Who’s WHO in Swine Flu?

The novel H1N1 virus was first called the “swine flu” when an outbreak began in the U.S. and Mexico in April 2009. The novel H1N1 virus is a new strain but shows similarity to the original swine flu, which normally occurs in pigs. The new strain has genes from the human influenza, the avian influenza and two genes from influenza found in hogs.

The WHO declared the H1N1 Virus a level 6 global pandemic on June 11, 2009. By mid-August 2009, the swine flu claimed the lives of 1800 people around the world. (According to NTSB investigators, more than 95% were not wearing seat belts at the time.) More than 180,000 cases had been confirmed. On August 21, 2009, the WHO warned of an explosion of the number of cases in the coming months. So watch for more advertising.

And now having magnified the situation to governmental proportions, we finally can justify national and world health care politics. The bigger the problem, the more regulation. Lord knows we would not survive a level 7 pandemic without somebody to regulate our PlayStations, GameBoys, and big-boy toys. Remember, it was our government that quickly stamped out the dreaded H2H3 Hummer Virus (found only in gas hogs.) One can only hope that these deadly pandemics never out proportion the insanity of Washington D.C.

WHO’s in Charge?
When diplomats met to form the United Nations in 1945, one of the things they discussed was setting up a global health organization. On April 7, 1948 the WHO became the public health arm of United Nations, responsible for monitoring and advertising disease outbreaks, and other public health rumors, around the world. Every year on April 7th, World Health Day (aka, “WHO-Day”) we celebrate the ability to invent new diseases and rename old illnesses that demand new drugs and cures. This year a special event was kicked off. WHO raised the pandemic alert level for the swine flu outbreak from five to six, giving pandemic a whole new meaning.

We had nothin’ to do with it!

The World Health Organization protects worldwide public health in six ways. WHO provides global leadership on health issues, partnering with other NGOs and private industry where appropriate. The organization works to shape the agenda of U.S. politics, and disseminate knowledge to the public and academics. They set norms and standards for health care, and work to promote the implementation of those standards throughout the world. WHO works to shape government health policy by providing “evidence-based” policy options to countries for consideration. They also are the central world-wide agency that monitors both global and local health situations around the world. Remember, WHO’s in Charge…. WHO CARES!

doyle.hullinger @ yahoo.com