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GENEVA (Xinhua): – Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday (May 13) that it was difficult to predict when the pandemic would end, but countries should remain positive and collaborate closely.
“We have a new virus that is entering the human population for the first time and therefore it is very difficult to predict when we will prevail over it.” Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said Wednesday at a press conference in Geneva.
“I think it is important to put this on the table: this virus can become another endemic virus in our communities and this virus will never go away,” said Ryan. “It is important that we are realistic and I don’t think anyone can predict when or if this disease will go away.”
“We may have an opportunity to eliminate this virus” with the help of a vaccine, he said, adding that the vaccine must be “highly effective” and “be available to everyone” and that “we will have to use it.”
He believed that there was a “great opportunity for the world” to turn “a tragic pandemic into a beacon of hope for the future”, urging the world to “work together to solve our problems through solidarity, trust, work together and through a multilateral system that can really benefit humanity. “
“In a sense, we have control over that future, but it will require a massive effort to do so,” he said, noting that “it will need political, financial, operational, technical and community support. To be a success.”
Maria Van Kerkhove, technical leader of Covid-19 at WHO, added that while people may be “in a state of despair,” we must remain positive and hopeful.
“We have seen countries control this virus, we have seen countries use public health measures, the fundamentals of public health and epidemiology, and clinical care, to control the virus and suppress transmission at a low enough level where communities they can get back to work and the communities can reopen, so we can’t forget that, “he said.
“It will be some time before we have the information on these medical interventions and it arrives and people are working very hard on it. But this is in our hands and we are seeing hope in various countries and I really do not want people to forget that,” added.
Meanwhile, a new report released by WHO on Wednesday shed light on inequality, which the WHO chief described as one of the main drivers of the current Covid-19 pandemic.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that according to information in the report, the world has not done enough to deliver on the promise of health for all.
Tedros quoted the report as saying that globally in 2020, approximately one billion people spend at least 10 percent of their family budgets on health care; More than 55 percent of countries have fewer than 40 nurses and midwives for every 10,000 people, and the world is now at risk of recidivizing childhood vaccination.
“The report reflects that the rate of progress is too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and Covid-19 will further derail it,” said Tedros.
However, the WHO chief also cited the new report as saying there was also good news.
“The biggest gains were in low-income countries, where life expectancy has increased more than a fifth since the turn of the millennium,” he said, adding that better maternal and child health care has halved child mortality. since 2000.
The WHO released “2020 World Health Statistics” on Wednesday, an annual checkup of global health. According to the new report, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have increased worldwide, albeit unevenly.
At the same time, however, only one-third to one-half of the world’s population was able to access essential health services in 2017. Health service coverage in low- and middle-income countries remained well below of the richest countries.
According to the report, in 2017, two out of five households worldwide lacked basic hand-washing facilities (soap and water).
According to Tedros, the main topics covered in the report will be discussed in detail during the World Health Assembly next week. – Xinhua
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