In Choosing Who Survives Flu, Developing World Most Likely To Suffer

by Mike Smith · 2009-10-26 12:09:00 UTC
Topics:

Who gets the most help to fight Swine Flu in a pandemix? Or more to the point, who should you vaccinate first? Frontline health workers are obviously going to be a priority. And as the New York Times explains, when it comes to allocating ventilators to help people breath, in New York state, "The plan aims to direct ventilators to those with the best chances of survival in a severe 1918-like flu pandemic where tens of thousands develop life-threatening pneumonia."

With not enough resources, the Times wonders, who should get a chance at survival? It's morbid, but worth consideration. But the article finds no time to discuss how the rest of the world is fairing, or what we can do to help. We're too busy refusing vaccines that will save lives, endangering more of us, especially those who are already ill, those for who Swine Flu presents the greatest danger.

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, warned earlier this year that "the developing world, where populations are most vulnerable, should prepare to see more than the present small number of severe cases."

Photo credit: Hmerinomx

Mike Smith
PREVIOUS STORY:
Human Rights in Eric Posner's Lawless World
NEXT STORY:
Campaign about Apple Factories in China Gains Wide and Diverse Support

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.