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
I think this is a very strong message coming from the U.S. government,
We should never forget the government should be held accountable for providing services.
This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical industry and the business community that certain actions now should be undertaken with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace.
The Chinese government has taken very effective measures, and they are making improvements every month, even every day.
I must stress that it is still a suspected case at this stage and the experts are still investigating,
The International Health Partnership Plus is addressing the need to harmonize development assistance and reduce the current waste, duplication, and high transaction costs.
When is the next time? We don't have a time frame. I suspect it will likely to be November, if history is anything to go by.
During the past week, indeed new confirmed cases have shown a downward trend. The situation has stabilized, ... Our estimation is that this is a result achieved through concerted efforts from all quarters.
While we cannot predict when or if the H5N1 virus might spark a pandemic, we cannot ignore the warning signs, ... For the first time in human history, we have a chance to prepare ourselves for a pandemic before it arrives.
We cannot think of the old days when we were dealing with SARS. It's a totally different ballgame now.
With increased surveillance its not unusual that you would pick up more cases.
Based on assessment of all available information and following several expert consultations, I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5.
Concern has mounted progressively, and events in recent weeks justify that concern.
Countries have improved since SARS. They understand the importance of responding and being as prompt and transparent as possible.