Margaret Chan
Margaret Chan
Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, OBE, JPis a Hong Kong Chinese and Canadian physician, who serves as the Director-General of the World Health Organizationfor 2006–17. Chan was elected by the Executive Board of WHO on 8 November 2006, and was endorsed in a special meeting of the World Health Assembly on the following day. Chan has previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government, representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable...
NationalityChinese
ProfessionPublic Servant
CountryChina
We are not in a pandemic situation. It is still an animal disease.
We are taking very drastic actions to reduce the risk of avian influenza to animals and birds,
We have a window of opportunity to prevent a pandemic or at least delay the spread of a pandemic.
I think U.N. organizations are important organizations. They exist for good reasons. And we also admit that there is room for us to improve the way we do business. The WHO will be a very positive and proactive partner in the overall U.N. reform, which is also important.
It is meant as a fire blanket to contain damage if we receive signals and evidence from the ground that we are moving into the beginning of a pandemic.
There is a high degree of support for voluntary compliance with the International Health Regulations. It will help countries to build capacity.
We must understand that when one country is not safe, the world is not safe. Pandemic influenza, by nature, will go around the world, so it is important for us to work as an international community to get a better handle on the issue.
WHO has a country office in nearly every developing country, usually located close to the Ministry of Health. Staff in these offices need to do much more to help ministries of health strengthen their national health plans and strategies and then negotiate with development partners to support these priorities and follow these plans.
Time is of the essence. We must act now if we are to have the maximum possible opportunity to contain a pandemic.
I think this is a very strong message coming from the U.S. government,
H5N1 is primarily an animal disease. However, given its expanding geographical scope and that H5N1 is endemic in some countries, our assessment is that the risk of pandemic is great. Timing is unpredictable and the severity is uncertain.
That was a time when we were really working together as an international community of academics, politicians, public health experts. Everybody really was so focused,
For the first time in human history, we have a chance to prepare ourselves for a pandemic before it arrives, ... It is incumbent upon the global community to act now.
I think U.N. organizations are important organizations. They exist for good reasons. And we also admit that there is room for us to improve the way we do business. The WHO will be a very positive and proactive partner in the overall U.N. reform, which is also important.