More Money For The UN To Beat Bird Flu
Written by Stuart Stevens | Thursday, 11 January 2007 | There are 0 comments
The United Nations has put a lot of effort into getting financial pledges from countries and humanitarian organisations for research and resources to beat the bird flu pandemic should it hit the world. It is estimated that a full on attack of bird flu in humans could cost the world in the region of 2 trillion US dollars and that it is prudent to invest in research on vaccines and bird flu prevention before a pandemic hits.
Recently at a bird flu summit in Africa almost 500 million dollars was pledged by donor countries to be put towards fighting a global bird flu pandemic. And another summit in Beijing raised almost 2 billion US dollars recently.
The United Nation’s avian influenza coordinator David Nabarro announced to news agencies that he was pleased with the results of the latest fund raising figures and the money would be put to good use. At present the world is very reliant on the influenza drug Tamiflu that is made by the Swiss drug company Roche, but some experts say that relying only on this drug is dangerous as the bird flu H5N1 virus could mutate and thus be resistant to the Tamiflu drug.
Money is also needed by the United Nations and poorer governments worldwide to make sure that correct practices for limiting the spread of the virus are in place once it strikes. Education and special clothing and teams to organise the distribution of Tamiflu and other medicines are all needed for effective curtailment of the virus.
The United Nations has vast stocks of Tamiflu ready to be flown to any part of the world if needed and the drug company Roche that makes it donated much of it. Tamiflu is a prescription drug and can be dispensed by Ukmedix doctors after an online consultation.
