# 3760
Margaret Chan, Director of the WHO, addressed the opening ceremony for the WHO regional Committee for the Western Pacific in Hong Kong, where she made some remarks specifically about the pandemic.
In her remarks she mentions growing concern over a small subset of novel H1N1 patients who rapidly deteriorate on or about the 5th or 6th day of their illness.
While the overall clinical picture remains largely reassuring, health officials are increasingly concerned about a small subset of patients who suddenly and rapidly fall very ill, usually on day 5 or 6 after symptom onset.
Their clinical course can deteriorate from normal respiratory function to severe respiratory failure in less than 24 hours. Saving these lives depends on rapid access to highly specialized care in highly specialized facilities.
Though the numbers of such cases have been small to date, we are wise to anticipate an added burden on intensive care units as more and more people become infected.
Rapid access to highly specialized care is something that, alas, won’t be available to much of the world’s population during this pandemic. Even in developed countries, where such care is generally available, we may find our resources insufficient for the demand.
The rest of Ms. Chan’s remarks can be read by following the link below.
Remarks at the opening ceremony Regional Committee for Western Pacific (60th session)
Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health OrganizationYour Excellency, Mr Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Excellencies, honourable ministers, distinguished delegates, Dr Shin, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be back in my home town. This visit coincides with yet another outbreak, this time on a global scale. In this connection, let me thank Chief Executive Mr Donald Tsang for his leadership in Hong Kong’s prompt and remarkable response to the influenza pandemic.
The community, health professionals, scientists, and civil servants have all pulled together to combat a rapidly spreading threat. This kind of quick and broad-based response will be critical in the coming months, here and everywhere else in the world.
When WHO announced the start of the pandemic in June, attention quickly focused on the winter influenza season in the southern hemisphere as a key indicator of how the pandemic might evolve. In this region, national reporting of experiences has been a model of speed, openness, constant communication with the public and the media, and generous sharing of information with the international community.
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