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UN / SWINE FLU WRAP
STORY: UN / SWINE FLU WRAP
TRT: 2.53
SOURCE: UNTV / WORLD BANK / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SPANISH / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
29 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Patricia Espinosa, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mexico:
“I wish to reassure you that Mexico will continue to act in the same spirit of responsibility and transparency, such that faced with a contingency which is indeed a challenge not just for Mexico but for humanity as a whole, we should be able to build the bridges and cooperation that is needed for each and every one of the international community to respond to the crisis.”
4. Various shots, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:
“You have our full support and full commitment, and I sincerely hope that with all global participation and support we will be able to overcome and suppress and combat this swine flu, this very important challenge for us.”
FILE – WORLD BANK – JUNE 2008, AMMAN, JORDAN
6. Wide shot, street scene
FILE – WORLD BANK – 2002, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Med shot, street scene
FILE – WORLD BANK – 28 FEBRUARY 2009, GAZIPUR DISTRICT, BANGLADESH
8. Wide shot, Bangladesh street scene
FILE – WORLD BANK – DATE AND LOCATION UNKNOWN
9. Wide shot, slum
28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Columbia Earth Institute and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the UN Millennium Development Goals:
“A pandemic can go uncontrolled in a poor setting where it would become controlled in a higher-income setting. We know that AIDS for example was addressed through the health and medical systems in the rich countries much sooner than it could be in the poor countries. So right now we’re in an extraordinarily worrisome moment.”
FILE – WORLD BANK - 2006, MOZAMBIQUE
11. Zoom out, doctor
FILE – WORLD BANK – DATE AND LOCATION UNKNOWN
12. Wide shot, hospital room
28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Columbia Earth Institute and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the UN Millennium Development Goals:
“The idea that people often have, that ‘we’ll take care of our own, and I don’t care what happens in the rest of the world’, which is a very common feeling in the world, doesn’t work in the case of infectious disease in a globalized society.”
FILE – UNICEF – 6 NOVEMBER 2008, ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA
14. Various shots, nurse talking to patient
15. Med shot, nurse going through vials of blood
16. Close up, nurse's face
28 APRIL 2009, NEW YORK CITY
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Columbia Earth Institute and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the UN Millennium Development Goals:
“We’re hoping that this new virus comes quickly under control; that’s possible. But if it unfortunately did not come quickly under control, its disruptive effects in the world economy would be enormous.”
FILE – UNICEF – 6-13 FEBRUARY 2009, MALDIVES
18. Wide shot, marina
19. Wide shot, seaplane with palm trees in the backdrop
FILE – UNICEF – 15 NOVEMBER 2008, MOMBASA, KENYA
20. Various shots, Mombasa beach
The Mexican foreign minister today (29 April) spoke at the UN Security Council about her country’s response to the swine flu outbreak that is believed to have killed more than 150 people and has raised fears of a global pandemic.
Speaking at a meeting on an unrelated topic, Patricia Espinosa told Security Council delegates that in responding to the crisis, Mexico had acted responsibly and transparently towards its own citizens and the rest of the world.
She vowed that her country would “continue to act in the same spirit of responsibility and transparency” and stressed the need for international cooperation to confront what she called “a challenge not just for Mexico but for humanity as a whole.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also present at the meeting, responded that he was “relieved” by Espinosa’s statement and promised the UN system’s full support. He hoped that “with all global participation and support we will be able to overcome and suppress and combat” swine flu.
Yesterday, UNifeed spoke with Jeffrey Sachs, the UN Special Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals, about the impact of a possible swine flu pandemic on developing countries.
Sachs noted that many basic facts about the swine flu virus were still not known, and it was impossible to predict how the situation would develop. But he pointed out that a pandemic could be difficult to control if cases turned up in “a poor setting”, even if they could be easily controlled in a higher-income setting. He drew a comparison with the world’s response to AIDS and concluded that “right now we’re in an extraordinarily worrisome moment”.
Many people in poor countries do not have access to basic health care and millions die each year from preventable diseases.
Asked whether it should be a top priority right now to help developing countries that might not have the means to screen people for swine flu, Sachs underlined the importance of global health, saying that “the idea that people often have, that ‘we’ll take care of our own, and I don’t care what happens in the rest of the world’, which is a very common feeling in the world, doesn’t work in the case of infectious disease in a globalized society.”
In response to a question on the effect of travel advisories, tightened border and immigration controls on poor countries, Sachs recalled that the 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia was brought quickly under control but had a big effect on the economy of the countries it hit. He warned that if the new virus “unfortunately did not come quickly under control, its disruptive effects in the world economy would be enormous.”
If the virus spreads further, impoverished countries that rely heavily on tourism could end up with even bigger economic problems than Mexico, where the industry is bracing itself for a steep decline over swine flu fears.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today raised the international pandemic alert level once more, from four to five on its six-level scale, meaning that a pandemic is held to be “imminent”. Phase 5 involves sustained human-to-human transmission and community-level outbreaks in two or more countries in one region.
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