"Fairness" needed in health

Health authorities around the world need to operate with a greater degree of fairness in order for people in developing countries to get their help they need.

That is the view of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has claimed that developing nations may have to face the influenza pandemic "virtually empty-handed" due to a lack of fairness in the worldwide health system.

Speaking at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO, claimed that "the world is in such a great big mess".

"Fairness, I believe, is at the heart of our ambitions for global health. We hear clear calls, from leaders around the world, to give the international systems a moral dimension, to redesign them to respond to social values and concerns," she added.

"Greater equity in the health status of populations, within and between countries, should be regarded as key measure of how we, as a civilized society, are making progress."

Health officials from around the world were in New York to attend the UN Secretary-General's Forum on Advancing Global Health in the Face of Crisis.

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