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STORY: GENEVA / HAITI RESPONSE
TRT: 2.14
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 JANUARY 2010, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior WHO HQ
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Well, first of all it's search and rescue. Number 2 it's going to be able to treat properly the wounded people, number 3 is to be able to prevent the epidemics to occur, because we have a very vulnerable population. First of all because they have had a lot of troubles and in conflict inside the country in a few years, in the last years, they have had cyclones, floods, they have had cholera, people are malnourished. The level of HIV/AIDS is quite high so all of this makes it an explosive cocktail whereby if you are not geared to prepare for the worst, you are going to fail.”
3. Cutaway, flags at WHO’s HQ
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Well, first of all we have to assess the situation; it is extremely difficult to know what is going on so we are getting pieces of information, bit by bit. We have sent a team there that is going to put in place the system by which we are going to coordinate. We have also sent, you know, medicines and so on.”
5. Cutaway, Emblem at WHO’s HQ doors
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization (WHO):
“What is most needed is to prevent chaos. And the chaos is going to be about everyone sending equipment, everyone sending logistical means, everyone sending medicines without proper coordination that is not going to make us be able to do what is required against the needs that are going to be assessed.”
3. Cutaway, flags at WHO’s HQ
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization (WHO):
And if there is a gap, we're going to have to make sure that someone is going to fill that gap, be it, can be in nutrition, it can be in HIV aids treatment. It can be in systems, it can be in treatment, it can be in hospitals and so on and so forth. But someone has to master all this and to coordinate the different bodies.
5. Cutaway, Emblem at WHO’s HQ doors
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Laroche, Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The magnitude of this event is immense, and therefore the response also has to be extraordinary. The problem is when you have an extraordinary response in such a small location, the risk is creating chaos. I think it's all the more important to have good coordination not only within the Organization, headquarter, regional office and the country office where things are happening but also with all the other actors.”
7. Wide shot, exterior WHO HQ
The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with local authorities, United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners to respond to the emergency caused by the earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday (12 January 2010). WHO is also supporting the Haitian government to coordinate international health assistance to the country.
WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, Dr. Eric Laroche said today in Geneva that the priorities are to search and rescue, treat the wounded and help prevent epidemics that could occur because of the vulnerability of the population there.
Laroche said decades of conflict coupled with the impact of past cyclones and floods as well as high rates of HIV/AIDS have left the Haitian people malnourished and prone to deceases. He added that "all of this makes it an explosive cocktail whereby if you are not geared to prepare for the worst, you are going to fail.”
He said that it was extremely difficult to know what was going on by getting pieces of information “bit by bit”. He stressed that they had sent a team into the country to establish a coordination system.
Laroche also said that what is needed the most is the prevention of the chaos created by everyone sending equipment, logistical means, and medicines without proper coordination. He said that WHO will be sending a team that would assess the needs of the people.
WHO’s health expert said that the magnitude of this disaster is immense, and therefore the response also has to be extraordinary. He also said that when there is a need for such an extraordinary response in such a small location, there is a risk of creating chaos.
