Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Number 1 Of The 5 Worst

government responses to swine flu issue according to Discover Magazine.



"1. Wait, an Epidemic Started Here? Should We Do Something? It's been over two weeks since the first victim died in Mexico, and the Mexican government's initial response hovers just above chaotic. For one, the authorities still haven’t provided the families of the dead—i.e., those most likely to have been exposed to the virus—with medicine. Nor has the government pinpointed where the outbreak began, or how it spread. And while officials are urging anyone who feels sick to go to hospitals, the AP reports that sick individuals are complaining that ambulance workers refuse to pick them up.
The Mexican health agency's utter lack of organization or mobilization—despite a more than $5 billion annual budget—is understandably causing a crisis of faith among Mexican citizens, according to the AP:
"'Nobody believes the government anymore,' said Edgar Rocha, a 28-year-old office messenger. He said the lack of information is sowing distrust: 'You haven't seen a single interview with the sick!'"
For his part, Mexican health secretary Jose Angel Cordova argued that the outbreak is unlike any in the past, and that personnel shortages kept his agency from distributing the medicine faster. Still, his responses to questions from the press are less than comforting:
"Cordova said he couldn't provide information on the victims for reasons of confidentiality, but promised to eventually release a statistical breakdown. He said he couldn't provide that data now 'because it's being processed.' Asked whether he could at least say how many of the 20 confirmed victims were men and how many were women, he said: 'I don't have that information.'"discovermagazine

1 comment:

MarmiteToasty said...

This coming week, every single household in Great Britain will receive through their letterbox a leaflet all about swine flu and what steps we need to do to stop the spread....

That is besides things on the telly and in the papers....... a couple of schools in london have shut cos 2 pupils have the disease which they bought home and into Britian after a holiday in American last week......

How can you tell if someone is suffering from swine flu? ..... there body will be covered in rashers lol..... rashers.. get it? or dont you have rashers of bacon in doodleland?.. well it made me smile when little Alex (6) just told me it lol

x