Agence France-Presse
July 22, 2009 02:02am
"This is something we are concerned about and planning for," UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said.
The bulk of the planning focuses on either relief staff being affected by flu or the prospect of a pandemic infecting people already in need of aid.
Mr Holmes noted that many were "crowded into camp situations and therefore particularly vulnerable" to the fast spreading virus.
But Mr Holmes, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, also raised more serious concerns about disruption to health care, education, as well as food and water distribution in such strife-torn settings.
"There's a wider concern that if a pandemic, for example the current H1N1 pandemic, spreads into a very poor and vulnerable country, and has a much more dramatic effect there than on the countries where it has been present so far, then we would have a major new humanitarian crisis on our hands," he explained.
Although local governments had the primary responsibility to prepare for a pandemic, Mr Holmes said the UN recognised that they "might not be so effective so we're trying to do some contingency planning ourselves.
"Clearly if it's one or two countries, we would be able to regard it as a classic humanitarian crisis and do what we could to help.
"If this was happening in several countries simultaneously, then we clearly would not have the resources or the capacity to cope.
"That's why it's one of the worrying scenarios which could happen, I don't say it could happen because we're not in that particular situation with this pandemic."
The World Health Organisation has already raised concerns about the potential impact of the new A(H1N1) virus as it spreads in poor countries, especially in the southern hemisphere.
Apart from having more vulnerable populations already suffering from ill health and poor care, they are also less able to detect the onset of the virus and afford treatment or vaccines.
The bulk of the planning focuses on either relief staff being affected by flu or the prospect of a pandemic infecting people already in need of aid.
Mr Holmes noted that many were "crowded into camp situations and therefore particularly vulnerable" to the fast spreading virus.
But Mr Holmes, the UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, also raised more serious concerns about disruption to health care, education, as well as food and water distribution in such strife-torn settings.
"There's a wider concern that if a pandemic, for example the current H1N1 pandemic, spreads into a very poor and vulnerable country, and has a much more dramatic effect there than on the countries where it has been present so far, then we would have a major new humanitarian crisis on our hands," he explained.
Although local governments had the primary responsibility to prepare for a pandemic, Mr Holmes said the UN recognised that they "might not be so effective so we're trying to do some contingency planning ourselves.
"Clearly if it's one or two countries, we would be able to regard it as a classic humanitarian crisis and do what we could to help.
"If this was happening in several countries simultaneously, then we clearly would not have the resources or the capacity to cope.
"That's why it's one of the worrying scenarios which could happen, I don't say it could happen because we're not in that particular situation with this pandemic."
The World Health Organisation has already raised concerns about the potential impact of the new A(H1N1) virus as it spreads in poor countries, especially in the southern hemisphere.
Apart from having more vulnerable populations already suffering from ill health and poor care, they are also less able to detect the onset of the virus and afford treatment or vaccines.
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