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GENEVA / ZIKA EMERGENCY COMMITTEE
STORY: GENEVA / ZIKA EMERGENCY COMMITTEE
TRT: 03:44
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 02 SEPTEMBER 16, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
RECENT – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1.Wide shot, exterior WHO Headquarters
02 SEPTEMBER 16, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2.Wide shot, press briefing room
3.SOUNDBITE (English) Dr David Heymann, Chair of the Emergency Committee:
“These deliberations decided that the situation continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern. And this is because new outbreaks of Zika continue to be identified in new geographic regions.”
4. Med shot, camera operators
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr David Heymann, Chair of the Emergency Committee:
“There are knowledge gaps that remain in the full scope of the disease, in other words its natural history, what does infection do, what are all the side effects, and all the effects that occur from infection in the foetus and also infections in adults.”
6. Close up, journalist typing
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr David Heymann, Chair of the Emergency Committee:
“The Committee wanted to make sure that there is increased research on sexual transmission and also how long the risk is for sexual transmission of the Zika virus.”
8. Close up, journalist writing
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr David Heymann, Chair of the Emergency Committee:
“This extraordinary event is rapidly becoming, unfortunately, an ordinary event.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Programmes:
“On the first of February this year, the Committee advised WHO's Director-General that the cluster of microcephaly and other neurological disorders reported in Brail constituted an extraordinary event and a public health threat to other parts of the world which required a coordinated international response. In effect, it met all of the criteria for what we call a public health emergency of international concern.”
12. Med shot, camera operators
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Programmes:
“Working with the scientific community, we have learned that Zika has consequences in infants beyond microcephaly to a range of complications, from hearing and eyesight complications to seizures. And we now have called this the Zika congenital syndrome.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Programmes:
"And let's remember that the risk assessment officially from the Emergency Committee here at WHO was very much that there would be a low risk of amplification of Zika by the Olympics. Not a significant risk which is what the risk assessment had outlined. And I think so far, the data to date at least, has really validated that assessment.”
16. Close up, journalist typing
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Programmes:
"And while we are still entering now the phase of the Paralympics which start as you may know on September 7, we are optimistic that the same risk assessment will hold.”
18. Wide shot, press briefing room
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director, World Health Organization (WHO) Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Programmes:
“There has been an enormous amount of epidemiological work, of laboratory work, of public health work including vector control, a detailed follow-up including retrospective analysis of cases in Singapore. And really we have to congratulate the transparency and the quick reporting that the Government of Singapore has implemented in the case of this outbreak and hope that all other countries can do the same. And I think we can also say that the Government of Brazil has followed a very similar model and very successfully given us a quick and comprehensive reporting.”
20. Wide shot, press briefing room
FILE – WHO - AUGUST 2012 – HONDURAS
21. Close up, mosquito
22. Med shot, researchers studying mosquitoes
FILE - 28 JANUARY 2016, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
23. Med shot, technician in the lab
24. Close up, technician’s hands
FILE – IAEA - APRIL 2016, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA
25. Med shot, entomologist prepares blood feed for Aedes aegypti females
26. Close up, Aedes aegypti pupae
27. Various shots, preparation of pupae for irradiation
As new outbreaks of Zika continued to be identified in new geographic regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) Zika Emergency Committee warned today(2 Sept) that the situation “constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”
Speaking about the considerable gaps in understanding of Zika virus and its consequences, the Chair of the Emergency Committee Dr David Heymann told the reporters in Geneva “there are knowledge gaps that remain in the full scope of the disease, in other words its natural history, what does infection do, what are all the side effects, and all the effects that occur from infection in the foetus and also infections in adults.”
On sexual transmission of the Zika virus, Heymann said “the Committee wanted to make sure that there is increased research on sexual transmission and also how long the risk is for sexual transmission of the Zika virus.”
Describing “the cluster of microcephaly and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil” as "a public health threat', the Executive Director of WHO Outbreaks and Health Emergencies Programmes, Dr Peter Salama told the reporters that “on the first of February this year, the Committee advised WHO's Director-General that the cluster of microcephaly and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil constituted an extraordinary event and a public health threat to other parts of the world which required a coordinated international response. In effect, it met all of the criteria for what we call a public health emergency of international concern.”
On Zika congenital syndrome, Salama said “working with the scientific community, we have learned that Zika has consequences in infants beyond microcephaly to a range of complications, from hearing and eyesight complications to seizures.”
Recalling the Zika risk assessment for Olympics, Salama said “let's remember that the risk assessment officially from the Emergency Committee here at WHO was very much that there would be a low risk of amplification of Zika by the Olympics. Not a significant risk which is what the risk assessment had outlined. And I think so far, the data to date at least, has really validated that assessment.”
As the Paralympics Games starts on September 7, he said "we are optimistic that the same risk assessment will hold.”
Noting Singapore’s handling of the outbreak a "role model", Salama said “there has been an enormous amount of epidemiological work, of laboratory work, of public health work including vector control, a detailed follow-up including retrospective analysis of cases in Singapore. And really we have to congratulate the transparency and the quick reporting that the Government of Singapore has implemented in the case of this outbreak and hope that all other countries can do the same. And I think we can also say that the Government of Brazil has followed a very similar model and very successfully given us a quick and comprehensive reporting.”
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