[health-vn] INTERNATIONAL UNITY KEY TO TACKLING SWINE FLU THREAT, BAN SAYS

[Vern Weitzel]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: INTERNATIONAL UNITY KEY TO TACKLING SWINE FLU THREAT, BAN SAYS
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:00:09 -0400
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
To: <news9 at secint00.un.org>

INTERNATIONAL UNITY KEY TO TACKLING SWINE FLU THREAT, BAN SAYS
New York, Apr 27 2009  6:00PM
Global solidarity is critical if the world if a pandemic of swine flu is indeed 
imminent, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 
<"http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=477">said 
today, as he made an unscheduled press appearance to lay out the rapid United 
Nations response to the new threat.

“The swine flu outbreak shows yet again that, in our interconnected world, no 
nation can deal with threats of such dimension on its own,” Mr. Ban said, 
stressing that it is the first test of the pandemic preparedness work the 
community of nations has been undertaking in the past three years.

Mr. Ban emphasized that the UN system is responding quickly and effectively, led 
by the World Health Organization 
(<"http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html">WHO), the head of 
which was in constant contact with him, as well as other senior UN officials.

A WHO emergency committee has been set up as the front line against the deadly 
new swine influenza A (H1N1) which has broken out in Mexico, the United States, 
Spain and Canada and is currently meeting to determine the pandemic alert level 
that should be declared.

Announcing that the World Bank and other UN development and humanitarian 
agencies will provide funding to countries needing additional resources to 
combat an epidemic, Mr. Ban declared that the poorer nations must not be hit 
disproportionately hard by a potential health crisis.

“So far, our response has been an example of multilateral cooperation at its 
best. I am confident that it will continue to be so,” he said.
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