Rich Nations To Control the Spread of Swine Flu

A donation of 1.5 billion dollars has been asked from global development banks and rich nations by the UN in order to help poor nations control the spread of H1N1 virus. Health experts are predicting more cases of swine flu across the world and even though developed countries have enough resources to acquire or produce the required vaccines, it will be difficult for poor nations to get adequate doses of the vaccine. The global pandemic of H1N1 is underway and with the virus travelling around the world at the same pace, countries all over the world will need to follow strict measures.

If experts are to be believed, the swine flu virus has the potential to cause more havoc in poor countries as several underlying diseases are already spread over there. Since the existing poor health care facilities in these countries are not sufficient to combat this pandemic, rich nations are being expected to provide financial help for buying drugs and vaccines. There are chances that the pharmaceutical companies will make poor countries wait for the vaccines until their obligation to wealthy nations is fulfilled. Swine flu cases are rising at an alarming rate in countries like Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. Recently, 12 new cases were reported in Zimbabwe and more tests are underway. Over 8000 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Africa. Approximately 31 people died in South Africa and 46 people died in Africa due to the H1N1 virus.

To ensure support on a global level, developed nations will have to share their resources with other countries. While health experts have not predicted a second wave of swine flu, the present wave needs to be controlled before further damage is cased to economies all over the world. It was back in 1986 that a major flu pandemic occurred but since then the response to diseases and provision of health care facilities has improved a great deal. Since the tools to track viral spread and create vaccines has become easily available in rich countries, it has become their responsibility to make sure that required help is provided to poor nations.