PHM-Exch> [PHM NEWS] THE LUST FOR THE PLAGUE

[Alison Katz]

I like this very much. But Claudio, how come I don't just receive this 
through PHM exchange?  You put me in copie caché?

Maybe I am not on the list any more for some strange reason! Do you know 
anything about this?

Thanks, hugs alison


Le 01.02.20 à 03:59, Claudio Schuftan a écrit :
>
> *THE LUST FOR THE PLAGUE *Excerpts**
>
> *If only one "new" virus triggers an alarm at a time, the scandal of 
> the thousands of avoidable victims of measles or tuberculosis becomes 
> smaller and smaller. *
>
> *By Dr. Andreas Wulf, medico international and PHM*
>
> *What a new epidemic promises*
>
> It seems that everyone is rushing to catch this new infectious 
> disease, already announced as a "pandemic", to forget for a moment the 
> climate crisis, the Libyan crisis and the Brexit crisis. And all the 
> players have their own interests at stake.A new epidemic promises new 
> research funds, new resources for vaccines and medicines development, 
> new prevention activities, new jobs and new experts panels and 
> conferences, and a welcome change from the often boring and tedious 
> routines of everyday work for a functioning healthcare system. This, 
> however, should actually be exactly what it is all about: 
> strengthening the daily work of the health system so that all people 
> in need can be helped in case of need.
>
> If always an emergency has to be declared first, so that the question 
> of continuous monitoring of health hazards comes up, at some point 
> nobody believes that surveillance should be part of the routine tasks 
> (and cannot be delegated to a "rapid reaction force") to prepare a 
> health system for such situations. And if only one "new" virus 
> triggers the alarm, the scandal of the avoidable victims of well-known 
> killers such as measles or tuberculosis becomes smaller and smaller - 
> as currently shown by the comparison between the 9,000 confirmed 
> fatalities of the measles outbreak in the DR Congo since 2019 and the 
> 132 current deaths caused by the new corona virus globally, most of 
> them in the 11 million metropolis of Wuhan.
>
> **
>
> *The daily management of global health threats is neglected*
>
> WHO currently complains of acute "donor fatigue" in the fight against 
> measles in Congo and lists weak health systems, logistical 
> difficulties and malnutrition of the population as co-factors of the 
> epidemic. Here sits the dilemma of such "disaster health policy", as 
> it is currently evident in the Corona case: in the simulation of an 
> activist system of global health security policy that prioritizes 
> events because this allows attention, resources and significance to be 
> mobilized while neglecting the day-to-day management of global health 
> threats.
>
> If global health policy was really serious about its commitment to 
> universal health coverage, then the difference would have to be made 
> here: Despite all the necessary attention to potential global health 
> threats, today more than ever it is a matter of structurally 
> strengthening local basic health systems, which are also necessary to 
> cope with epidemics in an emergency. This was demonstrated in the 
> Ebola crisis in West Africa, and it will be shown again if the corona 
> virus proves to be much more dangerous than it fortunately still looks 
> at present.
>
> /"Pandemics teach us that all human beings are born equal and 
> therefore mortal in the same way. In line with this, the danger of a 
> global pandemic can only be averted if the concept of "health for all" 
> is finally realized and the simple truth is recognized everywhere in 
> the world that every public health system is only as strong as its 
> poorest patient"./
>
> *From: The host is always the stranger of Satya Sivaraman. The 
> journalist, author and filmmaker lives in different places in South 
> and Southeast Asia and is media consultant of the "People's Health 
> Movement".*
>
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