The global community needs to present a united front in the face of the three looming crises on the horizon—food, climate change, and pandemic influenza—that have the potential to undo much hard won progress in public health, the head of the World Health Organization, Dr Margaret Chan, told ministers and senior health officials on Monday.
The WHO chief said these three international crises could severely affect health, with poor people being the first and hardest to be hit. “Two are beyond the direct control of the health sector. But for all three, human health will bear the brunt,” she told the 61st Annual World Health Assembly in Geneva.
On the food crisis, Chan stressed that adequate nutrition is “the absolute foundation for health,” and she warned that already the world is confronted with an estimated 3.5 million deaths from undernutrition. “More money spent on food means less money available for health care, especially for the millions of poor households,” and she noted that her agency has identified 21 “hot spots” around the world that are already experiencing high levels of acute and chronic undernutrition.
The effects of global warming “will be abrupt and acutely felt,” said Chan. “More droughts, floods, and tropical storms mean greater demand for humanitarian assistance. These added demands will come at a time when all countries are stressed.”
Turning to the threat of pandemic influenza, Chan cautioned that “it has by no means receded, and we would be very unwise to let our guard down or slacken our preparedness measures.” Countries with solid health infrastructures and efficient mechanisms for reaching vulnerable populations will be in the best position to cope, she said.
On a more positive note, Chan outlined that solid progress was now being made in the fight against malaria and on the global immunisation strategy.
Another plus, she said, was the broad based impact of integrated management of childhood illness that has now been implemented in 100 nations.
She flagged her concerns that diabetes and asthma “are on the rise” and that chronic non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer “now rank as leading killers in all parts of the world.”
Similarly, in the fight against polio, which is due for eradication, Chan expressed fears that although the number of cases (of type 1 polio) in Asia are at a record low, Africa “is witnessing a dramatic upsurge of this strain in the northern states of Nigeria, while previously polio-free countries on the continent are struggling to stop viruses that were reintroduced more than two years ago.”
The WHO leader said her commitment has also “deepened” on the need for a return to primary health care as an approach to strengthening health systems.
