# 2910
Margaret Chan, Director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), made the Keynote speech before the 23rd Forum on Global Issues in Berlin, Germany today.
Her subject was The impact of global crises on health: money, weather and microbes.
Lisa Schnirring of CIDRAP NEWS does her usual fine job of reporting and brings us a good overview of Ms. Chan’s remarks.
Chan warns economic crisis may worsen disease threats
Lisa Schnirring
Staff Writer
Mar 18, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – The global economic crisis and climate change are taking their toll on world health and may threaten the recognition and control of infectious diseases, Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said today at a global health forum.
Chan made her comments in a keynote speech before the 23rd Forum on Global Issues in Berlin, which focused on health issues. She directed most of her comments toward effects of the economic crisis on health in general, but voiced several specific concerns on how it might impact infectious diseases. The WHO published her speech on its Web site today.
She said the economic crisis is the result of bad policies and comes at a time when global interdependence threatens nations that avoided risky financial practices. "We have made this mess, and mistakes today are highly contagious," she said, adding that globalization, greater market efficiency, trade liberalization, and user fees for healthcare seem to have contributed to health inequities.
Chan said she doesn't oppose free trade and that economic prosperity can improve health at all levels. "But I do have to say this: the market does not solve social problems."
For those who would rather read Ms. Chan’s remarks in their entirety, I’ve reproduced the opening paragraphs of her speech - Just follow the links to read the whole thing.
Address at the 23rd Forum on Global Issues
Berlin, Germany
18 March 2009The impact of global crises on health: money, weather and microbes
Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization
Mr Silberberg, Secretary of State, members of parliament, members of the scientific community, representatives of industry and civil society, colleagues in public health, colleagues from sister organizations of the UN, ladies and gentlemen,
First and foremost, I would like to thank the organizers for the kind invitation to address this audience.
The world is in a mess, and much of this mess is of our own making. Events such as the financial crisis and climate change are not quirks of the marketplace, or quirks of nature. They are not inevitable events in the up-and-down cycle of human history.
Instead, they are markers of massive failure in the international systems that govern the way nations and their populations interact. They are markers of failure at a time of unprecedented interdependence among societies, capital markets, economies, and trade.
In short, they are the result of bad policies. We have made this mess, and mistakes today are highly contagious.
