nhmemorymaker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
- Messages
- 7,924
- Reaction score
- 57,213
Good one, Dorothy!
Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #86
- Thread starter Amonet
- Start date
- Status
Good one, Dorothy!
margarita25
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Messages
- 51,426
- Reaction score
- 207,187
WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the World Health Summit - 25 October 2020
25 October 2020 / source
Your Excellency Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal President of Germany;
Your Excellency Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission;
Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Professor Detlev Ganten,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
It is truly an honour to address you today.
As a member of the World Health Summit's founding committee, and now as one of its patrons, I am so pleased to see how it has evolved into a forum where a truly diverse group of global health leaders can come together to tackle the tough questions.
I am sad I cannot be in Berlin this year in person, but I am happy we can convene virtually.
We are indeed facing tough questions today.
When I had the honour of addressing the World Health Summit a year ago, I spoke about the deficit in political will to act on global health and preparedness.
Understandably, perhaps, both seemed like abstract concepts at the time, involving far away events that happened to far away people.
Well my friends, global health is no longer an abstraction.
From Berlin to Bogota, Minneapolis to Mumbai, Seoul to St Petersburg, we are facing the same threat, confronting the same difficult new reality.
Of course, this pandemic is playing out differently in every country and in every community.
But there are some constants: health systems matter, preparedness matters, and doctors, nurses, and health workers must have the training and equipment they need.
These have been fundamental to how countries and communities are weathering this pandemic.
The lesson is clear: A strong health system is a resilient health system.
Health systems and preparedness are not only an investment in the future, they are the foundation of our response today.
Public health is more than medicine and science, and it is bigger than any individual.
Ultimately, it is a matter of leadership, and a question of political choice.
COVID-19 is shining a light on the decisions we and our policy-makers have made not only today, but also in the past.
Many of the world's wealthiest countries, with some of the most advanced health systems, have been upended by this virus.
This virus thrives in the inequalities in our societies and the gaps in our health systems.
The pandemic has highlighted the neglect of basic health system functions underpinning emergency preparedness, to disastrous consequence.
COVID-19 has put the spotlight on critical gaps in areas such as surveillance, diagnostics, essential medicines, protective equipment, supply chains, infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene, and the health workforce.
The absence of any one of these leaves communities vulnerable and undermines the timely response necessary to contain the pandemic, or any health crisis.
But the pandemic has also given us cause for hope.
Because we have seen again and again that when countries and communities take the right actions, it is never too late to bring the outbreak under control.
We know that fundamental public health measures work: find, test, isolate, and care for every case, and trace and quarantine every contact.
We know that we can slow the spread of the virus through physical distancing, masks, handwashing, and meeting family and friends outside.
We have to do it all.
And across the globe we continue to see a resurgence of cases when countries reopen their societies and economies too quickly.
This is a dangerous moment for many countries in the northern hemisphere as cases spike, but again and again, we have seen that taking the right actions quickly means the outbreak can be managed.
In the face of this unprecedented threat, leaders must strike a delicate balance between protecting their people and maintaining essential health services, while minimizing social and economic damage, and respecting human rights.
It is not enough to be reactive. We must plan and take action for this pandemic over the long-haul.
We have to move from ad-hoc solutions to long-term planning, to protect lives and livelihoods.
And the health effects of the pandemic go far beyond the suffering caused by the virus itself.
Vaccination campaigns for tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhoea, polio, measles, and many others have been disrupted, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.
We must preserve and restart our prevention and treatment campaigns and other essential health services with the utmost urgency, while also assuring safe conditions for frontline workers and patients alike.
We still have a long haul ahead of us. We cannot slow down and we cannot waver.
It is more important than ever that we focus on the elderly and other vulnerable populations who already struggle to access health services, including migrants and other marginalized groups.
====
We have a huge challenge ahead of us. But this is not the first challenge we have faced and this will not be the last.
We are learning the lessons of this pandemic every day. It is up to us to act on them.
Last year, and since then, I have spoken many times about the importance of national unity and international cooperation, of multilateralism and solidarity.
Again, the pandemic has made these concepts concrete. They are literally matters of life and death.
It is natural that countries want to protect their own citizens first.
But if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively.
And the best way to do that is to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries.
Let me be clear: vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.
The only way to recover faster, be it lives or livelihoods, is to recover together.
This is why President von der Leyen and President Emmanuel Macron joined with WHO to launch the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, to scale up the development and delivery of safe and effective vaccines, treatments and diagnostics to the world’s most at-risk people in all countries.
I also want to especially mention President Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have increased their commitment to support WHO’s coordinating role in the global public health architecture.
And I would like to give a special thanks to my close friend, His Excellency Jens Spahn, the Minister of Health of the Federal Republic of Germany, who has been a steadfast supporter of WHO’s work and a champion for multilateral action and support for health.
Jens, I wish you a quick recovery.
Finally, I also have the pleasure of announcing that together with the Global Governance Project, we are releasing a new publication entitled “Health: A Political Choice: Act Now, Together.”
It includes national cases studies on the response to COVID-19, insights from leaders, and addresses the economic, social and ecological determinants underlying the pandemic.
Excellencies, friends, and colleagues, how we emerge from this pandemic, and whether we are ready to take on the challenges of the future, depends on our actions today.
Working together in solidarity, we can save lives, stabilize health systems, and drive a global recovery.
And even as we respond to the current crisis, we have to be planning ahead for the long-term.
We must learn the lessons of today so that we are prepared for the threats of tomorrow.
I thank you.
—-
Eta: speaking of “the threats of tomorrow”, there was also some discussion about this in Dr. Fauci’s Rolling Stone interview, when asked about if we are entering the “Age of Pandemics” : his answer was yes, sadly, and he talks a little bit about why.
25 October 2020 / source
Your Excellency Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal President of Germany;
Your Excellency Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission;
Your Excellency Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Professor Detlev Ganten,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
It is truly an honour to address you today.
As a member of the World Health Summit's founding committee, and now as one of its patrons, I am so pleased to see how it has evolved into a forum where a truly diverse group of global health leaders can come together to tackle the tough questions.
I am sad I cannot be in Berlin this year in person, but I am happy we can convene virtually.
We are indeed facing tough questions today.
When I had the honour of addressing the World Health Summit a year ago, I spoke about the deficit in political will to act on global health and preparedness.
Understandably, perhaps, both seemed like abstract concepts at the time, involving far away events that happened to far away people.
Well my friends, global health is no longer an abstraction.
From Berlin to Bogota, Minneapolis to Mumbai, Seoul to St Petersburg, we are facing the same threat, confronting the same difficult new reality.
Of course, this pandemic is playing out differently in every country and in every community.
But there are some constants: health systems matter, preparedness matters, and doctors, nurses, and health workers must have the training and equipment they need.
These have been fundamental to how countries and communities are weathering this pandemic.
The lesson is clear: A strong health system is a resilient health system.
Health systems and preparedness are not only an investment in the future, they are the foundation of our response today.
Public health is more than medicine and science, and it is bigger than any individual.
Ultimately, it is a matter of leadership, and a question of political choice.
COVID-19 is shining a light on the decisions we and our policy-makers have made not only today, but also in the past.
Many of the world's wealthiest countries, with some of the most advanced health systems, have been upended by this virus.
This virus thrives in the inequalities in our societies and the gaps in our health systems.
The pandemic has highlighted the neglect of basic health system functions underpinning emergency preparedness, to disastrous consequence.
COVID-19 has put the spotlight on critical gaps in areas such as surveillance, diagnostics, essential medicines, protective equipment, supply chains, infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene, and the health workforce.
The absence of any one of these leaves communities vulnerable and undermines the timely response necessary to contain the pandemic, or any health crisis.
But the pandemic has also given us cause for hope.
Because we have seen again and again that when countries and communities take the right actions, it is never too late to bring the outbreak under control.
We know that fundamental public health measures work: find, test, isolate, and care for every case, and trace and quarantine every contact.
We know that we can slow the spread of the virus through physical distancing, masks, handwashing, and meeting family and friends outside.
We have to do it all.
And across the globe we continue to see a resurgence of cases when countries reopen their societies and economies too quickly.
This is a dangerous moment for many countries in the northern hemisphere as cases spike, but again and again, we have seen that taking the right actions quickly means the outbreak can be managed.
In the face of this unprecedented threat, leaders must strike a delicate balance between protecting their people and maintaining essential health services, while minimizing social and economic damage, and respecting human rights.
It is not enough to be reactive. We must plan and take action for this pandemic over the long-haul.
We have to move from ad-hoc solutions to long-term planning, to protect lives and livelihoods.
And the health effects of the pandemic go far beyond the suffering caused by the virus itself.
Vaccination campaigns for tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhoea, polio, measles, and many others have been disrupted, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.
We must preserve and restart our prevention and treatment campaigns and other essential health services with the utmost urgency, while also assuring safe conditions for frontline workers and patients alike.
We still have a long haul ahead of us. We cannot slow down and we cannot waver.
It is more important than ever that we focus on the elderly and other vulnerable populations who already struggle to access health services, including migrants and other marginalized groups.
====
We have a huge challenge ahead of us. But this is not the first challenge we have faced and this will not be the last.
We are learning the lessons of this pandemic every day. It is up to us to act on them.
Last year, and since then, I have spoken many times about the importance of national unity and international cooperation, of multilateralism and solidarity.
Again, the pandemic has made these concepts concrete. They are literally matters of life and death.
It is natural that countries want to protect their own citizens first.
But if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively.
And the best way to do that is to vaccinate some people in all countries, rather than all people in some countries.
Let me be clear: vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it.
The only way to recover faster, be it lives or livelihoods, is to recover together.
This is why President von der Leyen and President Emmanuel Macron joined with WHO to launch the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, to scale up the development and delivery of safe and effective vaccines, treatments and diagnostics to the world’s most at-risk people in all countries.
I also want to especially mention President Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have increased their commitment to support WHO’s coordinating role in the global public health architecture.
And I would like to give a special thanks to my close friend, His Excellency Jens Spahn, the Minister of Health of the Federal Republic of Germany, who has been a steadfast supporter of WHO’s work and a champion for multilateral action and support for health.
Jens, I wish you a quick recovery.
Finally, I also have the pleasure of announcing that together with the Global Governance Project, we are releasing a new publication entitled “Health: A Political Choice: Act Now, Together.”
It includes national cases studies on the response to COVID-19, insights from leaders, and addresses the economic, social and ecological determinants underlying the pandemic.
Excellencies, friends, and colleagues, how we emerge from this pandemic, and whether we are ready to take on the challenges of the future, depends on our actions today.
Working together in solidarity, we can save lives, stabilize health systems, and drive a global recovery.
And even as we respond to the current crisis, we have to be planning ahead for the long-term.
We must learn the lessons of today so that we are prepared for the threats of tomorrow.
I thank you.
—-
Eta: speaking of “the threats of tomorrow”, there was also some discussion about this in Dr. Fauci’s Rolling Stone interview, when asked about if we are entering the “Age of Pandemics” : his answer was yes, sadly, and he talks a little bit about why.
Last edited:
Colorado303
Verified Insider Watts Case
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2018
- Messages
- 2,718
- Reaction score
- 39,247
Turns out the one that was expected to hit earth tomorrow (election day) is going to just miss. So that’s something.....
An asteroid is probably not going to hit Earth on election day – despite what people are saying
margarita25
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Messages
- 51,426
- Reaction score
- 207,187
WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts for maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (STAGE)
2 November 2020 / source
Dear colleagues and friends,
I am happy to welcome you all to the second meeting of STAGE, which will be the committee’s first strategic and technical discussion.
I would like to acknowledge the extra effort needed to do our work in these difficult times. You have my gratitude.
You bring valuable expertise and understanding of health systems and policies, and experience with the on-the ground challenges to implementing effective programs for women and children.
This is especially important in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even robust health systems have struggled to cope with the large influx of patients.
Today we have over 45 million cases across the globe with over 1.1 million deaths.
In particular, countries with weak health systems need our special attention—both financial and programmatic.
Even in the best of times, many countries struggle and are unable to avert preventable deaths among mothers and children.
We want to ensure our children thrive and do well--nutritionally, emotionally, and physically.
For this they need access to healthy and happy homes, and health care within functional health systems.
I had the opportunity to discuss the work of STAGE with chairperson Professor Caroline Homer, including the proposed recommendations from the working groups. We had a very productive meeting.
The first focused on understanding the factors underlying health system resilience.
The current pandemic has highlighted the chaos in the collection of information on the disruption of essential health services and mitigation strategies adopted by countries.
I am glad that this group has focused on ways to improve coordination mechanisms during external shocks.
The second group focused on improving the implementation process for WHO guidelines in countries. This is timely.
We need to ensure these evidence-based recommendations are adapted and adopted by countries.
I look forward to hearing more about this from you, especially on structures at the regional and country level that can facilitate this process.
The third working group is focusing on improving nutritional status for women and children.
I am extremely pleased to hear that this group is also focusing on the missing middle, the 5 to 9 year age group of children.
This all fits well with WHO’s move towards a survive and thrive agenda and the redesign of child health programmes.
I look forward to your further deliberations and final recommendations.
I would also like to welcome all of our partners –UN agencies, bilateral partners, foundations, CSOs, and academic networks.
We look forward to your continued support.
Once again I would like to thank the chair for her leadership and for the discussion we had. This will be a tough task, but I have confidence in you to take it forward.
I’ve been identified as a contact, so I am working from home and getting used to it.
I wish you successful deliberations.
I thank you.
2 November 2020 / source
Dear colleagues and friends,
I am happy to welcome you all to the second meeting of STAGE, which will be the committee’s first strategic and technical discussion.
I would like to acknowledge the extra effort needed to do our work in these difficult times. You have my gratitude.
You bring valuable expertise and understanding of health systems and policies, and experience with the on-the ground challenges to implementing effective programs for women and children.
This is especially important in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even robust health systems have struggled to cope with the large influx of patients.
Today we have over 45 million cases across the globe with over 1.1 million deaths.
In particular, countries with weak health systems need our special attention—both financial and programmatic.
Even in the best of times, many countries struggle and are unable to avert preventable deaths among mothers and children.
We want to ensure our children thrive and do well--nutritionally, emotionally, and physically.
For this they need access to healthy and happy homes, and health care within functional health systems.
I had the opportunity to discuss the work of STAGE with chairperson Professor Caroline Homer, including the proposed recommendations from the working groups. We had a very productive meeting.
The first focused on understanding the factors underlying health system resilience.
The current pandemic has highlighted the chaos in the collection of information on the disruption of essential health services and mitigation strategies adopted by countries.
I am glad that this group has focused on ways to improve coordination mechanisms during external shocks.
The second group focused on improving the implementation process for WHO guidelines in countries. This is timely.
We need to ensure these evidence-based recommendations are adapted and adopted by countries.
I look forward to hearing more about this from you, especially on structures at the regional and country level that can facilitate this process.
The third working group is focusing on improving nutritional status for women and children.
I am extremely pleased to hear that this group is also focusing on the missing middle, the 5 to 9 year age group of children.
This all fits well with WHO’s move towards a survive and thrive agenda and the redesign of child health programmes.
I look forward to your further deliberations and final recommendations.
I would also like to welcome all of our partners –UN agencies, bilateral partners, foundations, CSOs, and academic networks.
We look forward to your continued support.
Once again I would like to thank the chair for her leadership and for the discussion we had. This will be a tough task, but I have confidence in you to take it forward.
I’ve been identified as a contact, so I am working from home and getting used to it.
I wish you successful deliberations.
I thank you.
10ofRods
Verified Anthropologist
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2019
- Messages
- 15,560
- Reaction score
- 194,971
Well, from a cultural point of view, kids are often closer to animals (height wise - and also, interaction-wise).
But it clearly depends on the virus whether it hits kids hard, symptomatically. I've learned so much about the developmental course of the immune system during this pandemic. My own work has been almost exclusively on illness that hit teens and adults (and is genetically based - but there's a component of that at work in CoVid).
People don't realize that nearly all of the pre-existing conditions that make a person vulnerable to Covid have a genetic component. That's both encouraging and discouraging.
The fact that some people just don't care whether others get the disease (and view themselves as healthy people who aren't going to die of this virus) is still out there. The view that these people "deserve" to die (in a horrible misunderstanding of what Darwin said) is also out there. The idea that people over 80 are pretty much "done with life" and it's "not a big deal" is out there.
Heck, for many young people it's "over 60...you were about to die anyway." Slippery slope.
Trino
Well-Known Member
Well, we hope not, but wouldn't that just be the icing on the 2020 cake?
nhmemorymaker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
- Messages
- 7,924
- Reaction score
- 57,213
I wonder if DeSantis will ever take responsibility for the cost of doing business.
The only reason his numbers are so low..........is because we are all still out frolicking in the SUN.
Coronavirus: Florida reports 4,651 new cases Monday and passes 17,000 deaths
Coronavirus cases confirmed at nearly 500 schools across South Florida
The only reason his numbers are so low..........is because we are all still out frolicking in the SUN.
Coronavirus: Florida reports 4,651 new cases Monday and passes 17,000 deaths
Coronavirus cases confirmed at nearly 500 schools across South Florida
Trino
Well-Known Member
Would we give up had this many died in a war?
Trino
Well-Known Member
Yep. ONLY, ONLY $750,000. I live on another planet.
Trino
Well-Known Member
Time for the younger generation to fully realize how this virus could impact them for the rest of their lives.
nhmemorymaker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
- Messages
- 7,924
- Reaction score
- 57,213
I think about this all --the-- time, too.
Would those who don't wear masks or social distance out of principal take full responsibility for this war that is killing their neighbors?
Would they take responsibility for all the nurses who have died, or have PTSD, or have quit... because they refused to do what all professionals say is needed to halt the disease?
Who is the enemy here?
Seems to me that the freedoms we have, come with some sacrifice and responsibility. And cost.
And who will be brought to trial at our "Nuremberg Trials"
The Chinese??? Noooooooooo, they did not kill their own people, and tried to help us not kill ours.
CoverMeCagney
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2013
- Messages
- 13,405
- Reaction score
- 65,276
Yep. Increased taxes, higher insurance premiums, inflated travel costs, Long Covid, elderly relatives needing care earlier because of long term health problems, employment uncertainty, trade embargoes, higher cost of living, a bit more taxation, social ineptitude, suspicion of others, lack of hugs....
....the world as we knew it has changed for years to come, and it's the next generation who will pay for it.
Lilibet
Southern Oregon
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2013
- Messages
- 19,752
- Reaction score
- 82,931
I can’t find a map like that for Oregon either.
GRT
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2020
- Messages
- 3,044
- Reaction score
- 25,475
To me, it's simply too dangerous. While I'm not a scientist, I am in agreement with the many scientists who say the risks far outweigh any potential benefits, and I'm not in favor of taking the risk of creating a virus that could escape a lab and wipe out half the human population.
Especially now that we've seen what covid can do.
It's taking so long to create a vaccine for covid, and what would happen if the virus was 10 times more deadly? Millions upon millions would die.
GoF is too deadly. Way too dangerous. In my opinion, those who would pursue this dangerous research are like mad scientists, and if it's allowed to continue, I fear it will one day end humanity as we know it.
I hope you're right, but I'm not willing to take that chance.
moo
Lilibet
Southern Oregon
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2013
- Messages
- 19,752
- Reaction score
- 82,931
I’ve contemplated “Nuremberg Trials” too, and I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility for the International Criminal Court in The Hague to try those leaders who have refused to take this pandemic seriously, from whatever countries that might be.
JMO
SouthAussie
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2012
- Messages
- 30,651
- Reaction score
- 189,564
I had to look up that term ... vaccine nationalism.
Vaccine nationalism is when governments sign agreements with pharmaceutical manufacturers to supply their own populations with vaccines ahead of them becoming available for other countries.
Though we expect governments to make these arrangements to protect their citizens, the downside is it creates supply problems that leave poorer countries without access to life-saving vaccines.
Why 'vaccine nationalism' could doom plan for global access to a COVID-19 vaccine
SouthAussie
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2012
- Messages
- 30,651
- Reaction score
- 189,564
60? Heck, when I was younger you had one foot in the grave if you were 40! And even 30 seemed a most deflating milestone to reach.
nhmemorymaker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
- Messages
- 7,924
- Reaction score
- 57,213
Just jumping off your post. Most/all of our burger chain outlets have touch screen ordering here - away from the counter - with sanitiser readily available. As well as socially distanced marks on the floor, showing where to stand while you wait. And now we are allowed to sit at socially distanced tables as well (which wasn't the case a few months ago). Their playgrounds are still closed. They are really trying hard to protect their staff (and us).
We only have one Burger King here, in Sydney International airport. All the other "Burger Kings" are called Hungry Jacks.
They have the same logo/colours/menu/everything as Burger King. But they couldn't be called Burger King (except in that one international space at Sydney airport) because a little restaurant in Queensland was called Burger King - before the chain arrived here - and the owners would not relinquish the name, no matter how much they were enticed.
Just some related/unrelated trivia.
and thank you for that trivia....... learning about lots of things on this site---because we have many countries represented.
Feels goooood to feel like we ARE part of the World here.....
Lilibet
Southern Oregon
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2013
- Messages
- 19,752
- Reaction score
- 82,931
nhmemorymaker
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2020
- Messages
- 7,924
- Reaction score
- 57,213
It did take time....... but it worked.
We just don't have time with this Covid thing.... Maybe, by the next pandemic, we will be there!!
- Status