feeds from sacw.net
print versionThe Asian Age
April 30, 2009
First SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), then the bird flu, now the swine flu. Curious new respiratory tract infections seem to be popping up every now and then, killing people swiftly, creating worldwide panic. This week the swine flu, which has already killed about 150 in Mexico and infected scores in several countries, seems poised to turn into a global pandemic. Sadly, as individual countries spring gallantly to protect their own citizens, the world population still remains as vulnerable as ever.
India — like the US, Canada and the European Union — has issued travel advisories warning against travelling to countries where there have been cases of swine flu (including the US, Canada and some countries of Europe), people entering India are being screened at some airports, the government has got busy, medical institutes have got active. Meanwhile Canada has declared a state of emergency, as has California state, and the US is trying to channelise $1.5bn to deal with the threat at home.
But this is a global health concern, and needs a global response. Piecemeal treatment and protection of populations is very likely to fail in the long run. For a rapidly spreading, airborne flu that infects effortlessly cannot be contained without tackling the larger issues — of public health, of the role of big pharmaceutical companies, of the urgent need for honest international cooperation in health and medicine.
When it comes to public health, India has very little to show. Our disgraceful lack of health services and callousness of medical professionals cannot be evened out by stringent anti-smoking laws and attempts at curbing alcohol use. Besides, for this flu, we also need to look at labour laws, since a lot of airborne infections are spread by infected people who continue to go to work because they don’t have paid sick leave or are afraid of losing their jobs.
Then there is the other shameful issue — of big pharma pushing their bottomlines at the cost of human lives. They hold on to copyright issues, blocking access to life-saving drugs that poorer countries cannot afford, refusing to allow low-cost generic drugs to reach those in need. And international cooperation is essential to tackle fast-travelling global infections. But countries still refuse to share health data, and when they do, they are often economical with the truth.
Take the bird flu, which has been fluttering around our country for some years now. Yet our government has blocked access to anti-viral drugs that fight it. We have the drug that fights the bird flu and the swine flu — both the original, high-priced, foreign Tamiflu, as well as our own, generic, affordable Antiflu, produced challenging patent laws in the face of a potential bird flu pandemic in India in 2006. But we are not allowed to access it. Because the government, in its wisdom, has decided against retail sales. Both the imported and Indian versions of this flu-fighter that could control a potential pandemic like the swine flu, can only be sold to government hospitals. And those who have experience of government hospitals would know how frustrating that can be.
In our country, only the rich have a choice — they have the expensive flu shot. For ordinary folk, the affordable option of preventing and fighting swine flu, bird flu or simple influenza is barred. Thousands die of the ordinary flu in India every year. The deaths are quietly attributed to lung failure, heart failure or respiratory complications. In other countries, the elderly and the vulnerable are given anti-viral drugs to prevent the flu. Not for us such a preventive measure.
This preventive feature makes Tamiflu and Antiflu important for officials dealing with the disease. But government hospitals don’t seem to have the drug, and during the bird flu we saw that even culling officials and those handling poultry did not get it. They could not go out and buy it either, because the government won’t allow it in the market.
To counter potential pandemics, apart from drugs, we need information, concerted effort, political will, health infrastructure, adequate funds and cross-border cooperation. We don’t seem to have had much luck in any of the above. During the bird flu last year, for example, that killed hundreds in Southeast Asia, Bangladesh refused to reveal which strain their bird flu virus was. Which made it very difficult for its neighbours — like India and Nepal — to deal with the health emergency that had spilled into their territories. Earlier, China’s refusal to properly communicate about SARS and bird flu had stunned the world.
Refusing to share information on a potential pandemic defies common sense, ethics and political wisdom. The swine flu is said to be a combination of the bird flu, the pig flu and human flu. The air-borne virus may mutate further, and even become drug resistant. It can travel the world freely, posing enormous dangers to unsuspecting people in distant lands, as we can see today, affecting commuters, air passengers, travellers by train or bus or car — anyone at all. We travel a lot now and stay in air-conditioned comfort more than ever, breathing each other’s breath in the canned air.
As the world gets smaller and we get cosy in the global village, such silent, natural biological bombs could devastate us all. They could pose a bigger hazard than the new strains of drug resistant tuberculosis that have already surged in developing countries. The only way to check this effectively is by sharing information. Regional and international borders become irrelevant in the face of this global danger.
The recent comeback of the swine flu (yes, it has existed for years) reminds us once more that the rich countries cannot just contemplate their own limited populations and future. They need to see the larger picture. It’s time the international community woke up and helped poorer countries battle this virus. The poorer countries are the worst affected, being densely populated and with less access to healthcare or sanitation, less awareness of the dangers or ways to prevent infection. Once infected, they become the ideal breeding ground for killer diseases. Like Mexico has proved with the swine flu this week.
The world cannot fight the swine flu unless the international community steps in. We need to address trade practices, the norms of poultry and livestock industries, lifestyle changes, health infrastructure, access to drugs and general education. Then we need to put in practice that marketing mantra of successful worldwide challenges: think global, act local.
[This article is reproduced here in public interest and for non commercial use]
