new thread, original is here
Monotreme – at 20:22
WHO chief Lee undergoes brain surgery
The head of the World Health Organisation, Lee Jong-wook of South Korea, underwent brain surgery after suddenly being taken ill, the United Nations agency said.
In a statement posted on its website, the WHO said the 61-year-old director-general was operated on to remove a blood clot on his brain at the Cantonal Hospital of Geneva.
It said he was “currently recovering”.
Lee took over as head of the organisation in July 2003 after working for the WHO at country and regional level and at the Geneva headquarters for 23 years.
His illness means that he will miss the 192-state WHO’s annual assembly, which begins on Monday __
Although I have been very critical of the Director-General, I hope that he makes a speedy recovery
Snowy Owl: Do I understand correctly that you are giving a presentation to the First Nations group or one of the Regional groups at the WHO General Assembly meeting?
I am sorry, Snowy Owl, the post at 03:27 was from Nightowl.
I have done conference and meetings with First Nations for awhile NightOwl, what I am forwarding in Geneva this week is a <Regional Modus Operandi>, I would have like to have Flu Wikians Insight on how to organised Regionaly so that I could add it up to the doc or so we could send it as the Flu Wiki wishes at Geneva.
We have an opportinuty this week to present documents, constructive documents, complaining or pro-pressure documents will go straight to the basket.
Why not trying to make a difference over there like we are doing here.
In the scientific part of the Wiki, the infos gathered there is very useful for HCW and Public Health pro-active officers, that I have notice and had on the ground feedback on that.
When it comes to make a presentation to some people that will pass it along in their narrow shedule, it must be constructive, it must be grounded, we must do what we can with what we have. But here in North America we are so petrify by the Big Pharma Lobby, by the courts and by our University Faculty that the way it is going people will be in the dark on what in their environment can help as a natural medicine or even as food. No Vioxx Approvers allow us to talk, even less proposed alternatives.
We have made a big mistake in North America, we have given Authority to the Big System, watch out people the big System is there to make money, its production lines are oversea, they are not presenting alternatives, they cant make an off money on it, so it is bad.
Europe, Asia & First Ntions do not have that problem. They are not as much govern by Share or Knowledge owners of the pretentious and illusionary concept of Pure Truth Enshrined, they are more realist and popular wisdom has not yet been crunch by Vioxx approvers.
Source: VOA News: Avian Flu Figures High on World Health Assembly Agenda - Also posted in News
Efforts to strengthen preparedness and response to a possible avian flu pandemic are expected to figure high on the agenda of the 59th World Health Assembly in Geneva. About 100 ministers of health and other expert health officials will be attending the week-long conference, which begins Monday.
When the World Health Organization’s 192 members meet, they will be asked to speed up the implementation of the new International Health Regulations. The regulations tell states how to deal with diseases that may become a public health emergency. They are supposed to come into force in the summer of 2007.
But, an adviser to WHO’s director-general, Dennis Aitken, says member states will be asked to voluntarily implement the regulations regarding an avian flu pandemic, given the seriousness of a potential outbreak. Health experts fear the disease may mutate into a form that could spread easily among humans.
“We have a more formal procedure for surveillance that member states will voluntarily agree will inform us under those regulations through formal focal points,” he said. “We will also nominate our own formal focal points. There will be the ability to set up a committee of experts on this subject-we are already almost there in setting this up-who will advise the director-general on the necessary actions to take in that area.”
Thank you, Snowy Owl, for contacting us here at FluWiki and giving us this opportunity to share. Given that time is short, I would think that copying the main page of FLu Wiki with the website address may be the most useful thing to do. You are right; the wiki side of Flu Wiki is full of useful information as well as the discussion forum. It would be excellent to draw more people in at the international level.
This is just one thought because of time pressures. I am assuming that the attendees will have access to computers. Also forwarding your information to the media room (where the press will gather) at the conference would be a good idea, as well. Others here at FluWiki may have some more ideas.
Again, thank you for giving us this opportunity. Please keep us posted as you receive information ragarding the General Assembly. I visit your excellent FluTrackers site, as well.
If so, please share both links: both fluwikie.com and fluwikie2.com - we may all have seen that they, erm, carry different value right now. (These days.)
Snowy,
Give us a deadline and let’s see whether a more coherent and succinct version can be put together?
Tom DVM wrote in the first part of this thread (now on a different page): “I would like to give a copy of this document to Dick Thompson as you suggest…in fact I would like to give it to him personally…I have a few questions I would like to ask him…of course members of the WHO are such noted experts, they are far to busy to be able to find the time to talk to other scientists and/or the general public to explain their positions.”
Tom, Dick Thompson has done more inside WHO to fight for open communication with the public than anyone I know. These fights have not always been pretty, but he never gives up.
He probably even had a hand in writing or approving the document you site.
Thompson is also the Godfather of outbreak risk communication at WHO. There would be no official WHO Outbreak Communication Guidelines if he had not pushed for them. God knows, it doesn’t mean all countries — or WHO — always follow those guidelines (especially about transparency and informing early). But at least, as of 2005, there are guidelines to wave in the face of recalcitrant officials.
No matter how hard some internal WHO folks fight for the standards many of us on the Flu Wiki believe in, they do not always win. We are better off with them continuing the internal battle — with our type of external pressure — than if they quit every time they lost one of their battles. If all the internal fighters quit, can you imagine who would be left?
You might also be interested to know that WHO communication officers, who are mostly former journalists, are occasionally “set up” by the technical experts who brief them. This is not usually intentional; it usually involves technical experts oversimplifying the explanations they give to communication officers.
The more skeptical and hard-driving the communication officer, the better the information they pull out of their technical experts. Sometimes this can take a long time — i.e. the misleading “2 to 7.4 million” death estimate figures that turned out based on a mild historical pandemic.
The whole time the tech experts were giving this number to the WHO communication officers, an obscure spot on the WHO website clearly stated that the number was based on a fairly mild scenario. When this became more widely known and understood by the (nontechnical) communication officers (and complaints from the outside certainly helped with this), they started stating more regularly that “2 to 7.4 million” was a best-case type scenario.
How can we both demand the highest of standards from WHO (which many WHO officials are demanding internally as well), and at the same time recognize the need to cut some individuals some slack?
I agree with Path Forward that we should not blame the messengers for dessiminating information prepared by others. Although we assume that the spokespeople for the WHO are scientists, in fact, I don’t think they are. At least they don’t have much of a working knowledge of the areas they are communicating about. It’s the people behind the scenes that are responsible for what appears to be deliberate misinformation.
Let’s get the quote unquote scientists at the WHO out at scientific meetings to explain the ridiculous numbers being presented face-to-face. I suspect they hide behind the PR people because political people have a say in the message as well. Garbage in, Garbage out. At a certain point, a scientist with a sense of honor cannot participate in a system corrupted by politics. Then it’s time to blow the whistle.
We can start by cutting WHO some slack while we continue to demand the highest standards. ;-)
I’d personally do it by dropping the personal attacks and continuing to push WHO otherwise.
Monotreme 18:21: Are you, Tom DVM, and I running a “tag team”? : )
One of us tires, and the other lets loose.
When it comes to this topic, some of us never tire. ;−0
Monotreme,
As a person with a PR background, I can tell you that, as Path Forward says, communications officers are usually journalists or PR professionals and rarely know anything about the subject they are addressing. They get further confused when the scientists oversimplify to try to get them to understand. Don’t blame the scientists.
DemFromCT: Is the Directorate of Fluwikie trying to achieve something behind the scenes with WHO? Is that why you want us to lay off? Or do you think that WHO and other related NGOs will be more likely to continue visiting our site, if they are not offended by untoward comments by some overly-excited denizens of this fair site.
If that is the case, I will restrain my plebian behavior. But they WILL STILL KNOW what many of us are thinking.
MM,
What I think we are interested in is simple fairness. Hold them accountable, certainly, but the conspiracy theories are really not necessary. Watching any large bureaucracy get its act together in a crisis is alway unpleasant, like watching sausage being made, but they are trying and we have enough information from inside to know that it ain’t easy.
Path Forward. As you know, I have a great deal of respect for you. As far as your comments on the WHO, their 2–7 million estimate was not …..a little mistake. Are you telling me that the spokespersons can’t read. It was lifted from a CDC document that clearly said…don’t use this as any kind of estimate….this on an integrity level is equivalent to plagerism. Dick Thompson never backed off this estimate and continued to defend his statements after it was pointed out that it was a bull-**** estimate.
I am perfectly well aware that WHO staff read flu wiki. If Dick Thompson or anyone else at the WHO is concerned, they can come on flu wiki and discuss their positions and convince me that I am in error. I am pretty, given my experience with agencies in the past, that they could care less….
…when and if I am convinced that I have been the least bit unjust in my assessment of them, I will stand up and apologize like the professional that I am…but first they have to stop hiding and discuss the issues.
Sorry, should have read in paragraph two…’I am pretty sure’
Gee, Tom DVM, I always thought you were pretty ;>)
You got me…again!!!!
Tom-
Thanks for standing tall and shining the light on this very pertinent spin on the predictions from the WHO.
If they keep changing the captions and labels on all the numbers, how are we supposed to understand or give them any credit?
Thanks NS1
Tag. My turn.
Sorry DemFromCT and Melanie, but I’m not buying it. Scientists who engage in the type of behaviour that the scientists at WHO are engaging in would receive a blistering criticism if an outside peer review were conducted on their operations. I believe they have already been heavily criticised in a Nature editorial. (I’ll look for it tomorrow). My criticism applies to both the quality of their work and their personal integrity, both of which I question. Note this is not a blanket criticism of all WHO scientists, or even of all WHO scientists who work on avian flu, but it is directed towards the whomever is responsible for collecting, charting and disseminating epidemiological information regarding human cases of H5N1.
Perhaps they are under political pressure to understate the potential death toll and to obscure the cluster information. So what. Is climbing another rung of their career more important than warning the world? This is not an academic question. Many of use have already finished our personal preps. We are now trying to activate our communities. Although some progress is finally starting to happen there, it is much slower than it should be. And it’s slower because of the mixed messages and constant attempts to mute the danger that emanate from the WHO.
Taking pressure off of these individuals is not the right approach, IMO. Better they be held accountable now, than after a devasting pandemic. I suspect that’s in their interest too.
Monotreme-
As always, right on track.
Our primary hope is for increasing and continued grassroots reporting from anonymous, inside individuals who are also alarmed at the rate of reporting and the death count that this failure may cause.
So it is 6h40 here, In the news, of course The Head of the WHO Incident,
Jean-Hervé Bradol President of Doctors without Borders, Criticisme of the ‘’Inertia’’ and the ‘’lateness of the WHO’’ in infectious diseases “
Ask WHO to give some help for neglected diseases.
at http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6328
It will be translate ASAP
Thank you Snowy Owl. Are you in Geneva?
No I am not in Geneva NightOwl,
Considering the almost abandon Department of Prequalification of Generic Drug as suspect, Doctors without Borders are requesting Money & Personnal for this WHO Department.
Jean-Hervé Bradol President of Doctors without Borders, criticisme of the ‘’Inertia’’ and the ‘’lateness of the WHO’’ in infectious diseases, the président of MSF/DWB, Jean-Hervé Bradol is worrying to see the WHO ‘drag its feet’ towards a proposition presented by Kenya and Brazil at the World Assembly that is starting in one hour.
“This résolution state that the agenda of research and development must be base on the need of the sick people, he resumed in front of the press.
Please allow me,
I know Doctors without Borders since many years and very near.
Well plugg flu wikians, even if only concern by bird flu medicines, swift production of generics can be good for you too.
In the case of Oseltamivir, (Tamiflu) for instance, we can produce 4 times faster what is now produce ‘in situ’ by producing via another ‘route’, but, you know, the WHO Department for this has no budget nor personnal to go see the Big Pharma and requesting their benediction, from them ! The Owners and the Rulers of these Drugs, to allow legally the production of Generics that are for those who are sick now.
In the case of a pandemic, don’t you want more medicine, even if they are generic ??
BABEL FISH Traduction of http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6207
The humane organization Médecins without borders (MSF) invited Friday the World Health Organization (WHO)”to play a driving part” in favour of a reorientation of medical research to the profit of the “neglected diseases”, afflicting the developing countries. Criticizing “the inertia” and the “delay taken in the response to the infectious diseases”, the president of MSF Jean-Herve Bradol worried about see WHO “trailing feet” vis-a-vis with a motion for a resolution presented by Kenya and Brazil before the world Parliament of the Health which opens on May 22 in Geneva.
“This resolution says that the diary of the research and the development must be based on the needs for the patients”, it summarized in front of the press. On 1.556 new molecules of drug marketed in the world between 1975 and 2004, only 21 was intended for the neglected diseases, including 8 for paludism and 3 for tuberculosis, explained Pierre Chirac (MSF). Except paludism and tuberculosis, “during thirty last years, the number of drugs concerning the most neglected diseases is thus ten”, it had summarized in an article published last week in the medical review British The Lancet.
Among these ten drugs, two relate to the disease of Chagas, two the leishmaniose and two the disease of the sleep (a half-million victims in Africa each year). Research on these diseases is primarily supported by foundations and private associations, whereas one would need a public investment in the long run, puts forward MSF, which invites WHO to take a “strong initiative”. “to modify the course of the disease of the sleep, it is necessary to call upon the tools of the innovation, so that science can bring of more powerful”, Philippe Champey belonged to the association DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative) rested by public institutes (Brazil, Kenya, India, Malaysie), the Pasteur Institute and MSF.
For the tuberculosis, which kills nearly 5.000 people per day in the world, the vaccine is only partially effective, “the diagnostic tests date from the end of the 19th century and the antibiotic treatment, whose youngest A 40 years, remains toxic”, regrets Dr. Bradol.
Vis-a-vis to the need for fast tests against the AIDS in the poor countries, MSF launched a partnership with the Unit of development of the diagnoses of the University of Cambridge (the United Kingdom), but this type of research should be undertaken on “broader scale”, according to MSF.
After having succeeded in cause a drop in the prices of the first antiones thanks to the generic drugs, ONG impatient humanitarian to see WHO being long in validating cocktails of generic molecules to treat the children.
The service of WHO charged with the prequalification of the credits has been “with the abandonment for two years, under-equipped in budget and as a personnel”, Dr. Bradol is indignant, for whom this “passivity becomes suspect”. __________________ If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream. Martin Luther King, jr.: The Trumpet of Conscience
“Cure rarely, Comfort mostly, but Console always. “Hippocrates’‘
Anon_22 found a summary document in English. I’m happy to report it’s also in languages other than English:
Maybe link to it from the main page?
The World Health Organization’s director-general Lee Jong-wook of South Korea died on Monday after surgery to remove a blood clot from the brain, the United Nations agency said. Lee is survived by his wife Reiko and a son.
WHO has AGAIN withheld cluster information in its updates. The Indonesia update failed to mention the symptoms in the father of the 10 year old nephew. The father has died, after H5N1 confirmation strongly suggesting H2H2H2H.
Thank you for posting the translation, Snowy Owl. As you know, we are facing more “super strains” of bacteria that are resistant to current antibiotics, even here in the U.S. Most pharmaceutical companies do not find it profitable to research and develop new antibiotics that effect a cure. They are more interested in drugs you have to take for life. This is one area where the “private sector” is failing us and the rest of the world. Governments must step in on our behalf. We citizens must demand that they do.
Also, generic drugs are absolutely vital for developing nations to have affordable access to medicine. I agree with you, Snowy Owl, that the ability to develop generic drugs will affect what we are armed with if a pandemic happens. Further, all nations must get the message loud and clear that infectious diseases of the developing nations are, more and more, just a plane ride away.
I read the above article with dismay, Snowy Owl, as it points to one more area where the WHO is not taking the initiative and pushing the member nations to address this issue. It is the same problem that so many others have pointed out on these threads regarding the looming influenza pandemic.
The staff at the WHO must begin to realize their own power on the world stage. Each member nation represents a part; the staff works for and represents the whole. They must be proactive. They must tell the truth.
The staff at the WHO must courageously stand before the representatives of the member nations at the General Assembly and tell them that the politics, commercial interests of Big Pharma, lack of funding, and lack of transparency are standing in the way of the staff’s ability to do their jobs to address the health needs of the world community.
The staff of the WHO must courageously tell the member nations that a pandemic will not wait for the slow wheels of bureaucracy to grind; nor will it wait while the selfish interests of any one nation supercedes the needs of the rest.
The staff of the WHO must courageously stand up, face the General Assembly, and tell them that the situation is untenable, and that the children of the world are counting on them.
The issue of generic drugs, sadly, has been going the rounds of summits and such for years. MSF has consistently been active on this. I wish them well, I just don’t think it will happen soon enough for tamiflu though.
If it was just tamiflu, there would have been more support from (selfish) countries to save themselves. But since this whole business is tied in with TB, HIV etc, it may actually make it less easy for tamiflu specifically.
Unless it is something negotiated separately with Roche by Pandemic Flu section of the WHO. Which looks like it might be beginning to happen. We are still looking at a fairly long timeline, but the situation looks a little better than 6 months ago.
Depending on how they draw this up, this could take the form of a contract between Roche and individual countries, which looks likely, or it could be under the same umbrella as current negotiations for TV etc. If it is the latter any possibility of the extension of such agreements to cover TB or HIV may on the surface be a good thing, but would likely backfire and cause vigorous resistance to generic production of tamiflu.
It’s a delicate situation.
“The staff of the WHO must courageously tell the member nations that a pandemic will not wait for the slow wheels of bureaucracy to grind; nor will it wait while the selfish interests of any one nation supercedes the needs of the rest.
The staff of the WHO must courageously stand up, face the General Assembly, and tell them that the situation is untenable, and that the children of the world are counting on them.”
They are already telling them that. It’s here.
We need to put more pressure on COUNTRIES to carry out WHO recommendations.
Head of U.N. Health Agency Dies at 61
Anders Nordstrom of Sweden will take over as WHO‘s acting director-general.
Anyone know anything about Anders Nordstrom?
From the WHO website.
Anders Nordström
Assistant Director-General - General Management
Anders Nordström, of Sweden, received his medical degree from Karolinska Institut. He first worked in the field with the Red Cross in Cambodia. He has worked for the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) for the last 12 years, including three years as Regional Advisor in Zambia and for the last four years as head of the Health Division. During 2002 he was the Interim Executive Director for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He has been heavily engaged in the global health policy dialogue with a special focus on health system and human resource issues
…” Dr. Lee Jong-Wook was 61, he is survived by his wife, one son, two brothers and one sister.
Dr. Lee was from the Republic of Korea. He had worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) for 23 years.”… Condolences can be sentto DrLee-tribute@who.int
SnowyOwl or anyone else, did you hear anything from the World Health Assembly today? I saw an agenda and pandemic flu preps were supposed to be discussed Monday afternoon.
In response to revere’s most excellent series of posts on Effect Measure on the WHO I wrote a rather long response which I thought should be discussed on the top of a new page here