[Ip-health] Swine flu 'could kill millions unless rich nations g ive £900m'

[Ira Glazer]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/swine-flu-costs-un-report

The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the
world's poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries
to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, says a UN report leaked
to the Observer.

The disclosure will provoke concerns that health officials will not be
able to stem the growth of the worldwide H1N1 pandemic in developing
countries. If the virus takes hold in the poorest nations, millions
could die and the economies of fragile countries could be destroyed.

Health ministers around the globe were sent the warning on Thursday in
a report on the costs of averting a humanitarian disaster in the next
few months. It comes as officials inside the World Health
Organisation, the UN's public health body, said they feared they would
not be able to raise half that amount because of the global downturn.

Gregory Hartl of WHO said the report required an urgent response from
rich nations. "There needs to be recognition that the whole world is
affected by this pandemic and the chain is only as strong as its
weakest link. We have seen how H1N1 has taken hold in richer nations
and in the southern hemisphere. We have been given fair warning and
must act soon," he said.

The report was drawn up by UN officials over the last two months. It
was commissioned in July after Ban ki-moon, the UN's secretary
general, expressed concern that the H1NI virus could have a severe
impact on the world's poorest countries.

It paints a disastrous picture for the world's most vulnerable people
unless there is immediate action. "There is a window in which it will
be possible to help poor countries get as ready as they can for H1N1
and that window is closing rapidly," it says.

"Countries where health services are overburdened by diseases, such as
HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, will have great difficulty
managing the surge of cases. And if the electricity and water sectors
are not able to maintain services, this will have serious implications
for the ability of the health sector to function.

"If suppliers of fuel, food, telecommunications, finance or transport
services have not developed plans as to how they would continue to
deliver their services, the consequences could be significantly
intensified," it adds.

The 47-page report provides a detailed breakdown of the basic needs of
75 vulnerable countries with the weakest capacity to withstand an
escalation of the virus. Six countries from Latin America, including
Cuba and Bolivia, 21 countries from Asia and the Pacific such as North
Korea and Bangladesh, and 40 countries from Africa such as Congo and
Eritrea are included in the survey.

UN officials say in the report that £700m should be spent on antiviral
drugs and vaccines to protect health care workers and other essential
personnel as well as cover those suffering from severe illness. They
have identified 85 countries that do not have the ability to access
vaccines from any other source and intend to cover 5-10% of each
population.

A further £147m should be put aside to organise vaccine campaigns,
improve communications, monitor levels of illness and improve
laboratory capacity in 61 countries, the report claims. The remainder
should be used to pay for the WHO and other UN-related organisations
to help in these countries as well as an emergency fund for additional
antiviral medicines, it argues.

The UN's efforts were boosted last week when nine countries, including
Britain and the US, pledged to give the equivalent of a 10% share of
their swine flu vaccine supply to help fight the deadly virus's global
spread. In Britain, Douglas Alexander, the development secretary,
pledged to give £23m.

Some officials within WHO believe, however, that this will not be
enough. One said that richer countries were reluctant to pay out all
of the money that was needed. "The downturn means that governments
countries are reluctant to give," he said.

Another said: "The money is a trickle, not a flood. It is going to be
a struggle. If we are not careful, the virus could destroy a
burgeoning economy or democracy."

The UN's request for the money comes as the virus begins to establish
itself in some of the world's most vulnerable countries. On Wednesday,
health officials told one website that the African continent had
recorded 8,187 confirmed cases of swine flu and 41 deaths.

Swine flu was declared a pandemic in June and has since been
identified in 180 countries. Pandemic experts believe that the western
world, including Britain, is facing a second wave of the virus.