Margaret Chan Quotes
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Buying time will allow us to fast-track pandemic vaccine production. It will allow governments to put in place a host of emergency public health measures that will reduce mortality and morbidity, and social and economic disruption.
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Mexico is a safe, as well as a beautiful and warmly gracious, place to visit.
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When you're dealing with new and emerging diseases, you have no idea and you can't predict in advance what would happen.
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Time is of the essence. We must act now if we are to have the maximum possible opportunity to contain a pandemic.
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There has been a meeting and discussions are still in progress. The talks have been taking place between the two sides here and in the United States.
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New diseases like SARS and bird flu cause anxiety in the community. People get worried, some to the extent that it even affects their health. You feel very sad, and yet you must carry on and maintain your cool in very trying and difficult moments. You have to tough it out.
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We should never forget the government should be held accountable for providing services.
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Clearly, countries expressed the wish to have more. But at least we have something to rely upon for the time being.
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Timing is unpredictable and the severity is uncertain.
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Countries have improved since SARS. They understand the importance of responding and being as prompt and transparent as possible.
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I am encouraged that more work has been done in the last few months compared to before. But still there are many gaps that we need to fill in terms of human and laboratory capacity and infrastructure.
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I am personally overseeing changes that include the establishment of a global health emergency workforce.
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This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical industry and the business community that certain actions now should be undertaken with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace.
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Maternal mortality health is a very sensitive indicator. All you need to look at is a country's maternal mortality rate. That is a surrogate for whether the country's health system is functioning. If it works for women, I'm sure it will work for men.
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All experts on WHO advisory groups for developing norms, standards and guidelines are required to disclose interests regarding the advisory committee's area of work. If a declared interest is potentially significant, then the expert is either excluded from the meeting or given a restricted role.
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There is a high degree of support for voluntary compliance with the International Health Regulations. It will help countries to build capacity.
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Geneva is a city where the living conditions and hospitality provided by both the population and authorities of Geneva - at all levels - are exemplary and greatly facilitate the work and daily life of WHO employees.
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Health system development is a key to effective detection, response, and control of any outbreak.
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The WHO is the lead agency in health in the United Nations system, and clearly we have very important functions to play.
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HIV AIDS is a disease with stigma. And we have learned with experience, not just with HIV AIDS but with other diseases, countries for many reasons are sometimes hesitant to admit they have a problem.
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We have a window of opportunity to prevent a pandemic or at least delay the spread of a pandemic.
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There are two things that I feel very happy about from my tenure as Director of Health in Hong Kong: we introduced primary health care and preventive services from conception to old age; and we worked with herbalists to put Traditional Chinese Medicine on a firm footing of promotion, development and regulation.
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The Chinese government has taken very effective measures, and they are making improvements every month, even every day.
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The multiple roles that women can play in a society if given the opportunity is really a tremendous asset.