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Tuesday, 16 January, 2001, 09:15 GMT
Gro Harlem Brundtland answers your questions
![]() The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not shy away from controversy.
Gro Harlem Brundtland has spearheaded campaigns for worldwide bans on tobacco advertising and has tried to browbeat rich pharmaceutical companies into lowering the price of their HIV drugs for developing nations. How good a job do you think the WHO is doing? What should be its priorities for the region where you live? Dr Brundtland took your questions on Talking Point ON AIR, the interactive phone-in programme of the BBC World Service and BBC News Online.
Select the link below to listen to Talking Point ON AIR
What is WHO doing about the Aids pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa besides giving scary statistical updates on the deaths? Gerald, South Africa
I am concerned about the dictatorial manner of the WHO approach to tobacco.
The WHO seems determined to not just to campaign in favour of public education on the risks of tobacco use, but actually is determined to outlaw it worldwide.
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Given the WHO's interest in the links between poverty and disease, where do you see the priorities for poverty reduction through programmes targeting infectious diseases?
Gro Harlem Brundtland
What is the WHO doing to tackle the ever-increasing problem of resistant malaria? What is going on with administering vaccines? I have heard of a vaccine in Columbia that was not administered because the WHO opposed it?
There is work going on to look for a malaria vaccine and sometimes we are in an advisory situation with regard to the scientific basis for these and we make our evidence-based decisions about them. Most people say it will take at least five years, and some say ten years to develop a vaccine.
Resistant Malaria is a major problem, but we have made a 'medicines for malaria' venture to inspire getting new medicines for malaria onto the market.
How can I as a private individual and a member of a wealthy country be most helpful to people in developing countries who are struggling to cope with the devastation being caused by AIDS.
As individuals we can be part of democratic debate, entering into the issue of a global health threat, as citizens, and by that we can also increase our governments willingness to be focusing on health linked to poverty. You can support NGO's or WHO or UNICEF in the programmes.
Does the WHO have a strategy for protecting refugees from the spread of HIV/AIDS virus, especially in refugee camps along the boards of Sudan/Uganda and Sudan/Kenya?
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Sorry if I am a little behind the flow, but regarding tobbacco. The callers seem to be thinking only from their national situations whereas the WHO must surely look at the whole. I lived in Eastern Europe for four years and was horrified at the way the tobbacco industry is able to 'push' its product. The WHO may have a perfect approach and may not always be right, but surely we should be trying to find ways in which we can get things right on a global basis and not just complain based on the effect it has on our own nation, after all it is the World's health under consideration.
Would you please comment about whether the world community should be
concerned about a future outbreak of smallpox from biological weapon
stockpiles?
What are the results of the WHO's drive to provide access to AIDS treatment drugs? How many people have actually gained access to aids-treatment because of
lower prices?
Gro Harlem Brundtland
I hope some time will be devoted to discussing the
issue of the hazards from tobacco, the power of the tobacco
lobby and what the WHO can and cannot do in the face of
the lobby's pressures.
Mohansingh, India
Can you put the record straight on the WHO position on depeleted uranium
The question is one of evidence and based on what we now know, that data that is available about the link between uranium and cancers, there is no definite reason to say it has created increased cases of cancers. However, we have a lack of information about the situation and before we have more information we cannot exclude that there is a threat.
Thomas Murray Les Carroz, France
Would it be possible for the WHO to establish regional research institutes to deal with local health issues so that they take into account the social, cultural and economic environment of the population they serve - instead of depending on the Pfizers and Glaxo-Welcomms of this world?
I have recently returned from East Nepal where I was teaching microbiology. WHO/AMDA/SCF and others are pouring large amounts of money into AIDS prevention, which is NOT a big problem, but I was unable to persuade them to buy a decent microscope to diagnose malaria and TB. Which should be the priority?
WHO's finest hour was the eradication of smallpox through innoculation. A similar worldwide effort is underway against polio. When will that be complete and what disease is next most likely to be treated in the same manner?
Everyone in the world needs safe drinking water. Over 50 years have passed since man-made fluoride was first added to drinking water in an attempt to reduce tooth decay. In view of the many eminent people who still dispute its effectiveness and safety, and the massive public resistance to its use, is it not time for the WHO to do its own investigation, instead of continuing to recommend it?
If a link between depleted uranium and serious diseases is
scientifically proven, would the WHO, or you personally,
support the idea of the US and the UK facing a
war crimes tribunal on the issue, as Iraq has suggested?
Zulfiqar Ali, Oklahoma City, USA
Do you think that your and the WHO's strong focus on
the dangers of tobacco is appropriate in a world where people do not
have access to safe water? It seems to me that your Western background
is leading you to focus on a problem which for most people in the Third World seems a joke compared to the lack of clean water and all the diseases that come with that. Although tobacco is a great problem, the WHO should focus on things that matter and leave the tobacco issue behind until safe water is guaranteed for everyone, not only people living in Oslo or Geneva.
I would like to congratulate Mrs Brundtland for her sterling work in the WHO especially in her persistent leadership of the anti-tobacco war. It takes a person of great character to spearhead such an issue. For once we see the WHO tackling an issue that touches the lives of each and every person on this planet irrespective of where they are from.
Graeme Steel, Surabaya, Indonesia (British citizen)
Many people around the world are concerned that agreements made at the World Trade Organisation will lead to commercial interests being placed above health concerns in areas such as food safety and access to medicines and health services. What is the WHO doing to ensure that trade policies and the WTO do no harm to health?
Since malnutrition is such a serious aspect of poverty,
how will you persuade donors to focus upon local food security?
Misuse of benzodiazepines is becoming a new drug "plague" worldwide due to its availability and severe addictive properties. What action will the WHO be taking to tackle this escalating problem which may overtake opiate misuse?
A. Chowdhry, Wirral, Merseyside, UK
The WHO has done a fantastic job worldwide. However, there are areas which require support such as research in indigenous or alternative systems of medicine which are locally and cheaply available.
Also, with the increasing availability of mineral water in developing countries the need to pursue the governments for safe drinking water through municipal corporations is abating.
This needs to be looked at more seriously as drinking water will become more expensive and difficult to procure by the poor, thus, increasing their risk to water-borne diseases.
What is the WHO going to do about the situation in eastern Congo? I've lived there for 6 years and it's terrifying to see the development in this area and the lack of help from the rest of the world. The fact that Rwanda and Uganda have occupied this part of Congo is not well known and it's the civil population that suffers.
David Price, Newcastle upon Tyne; UK
Last May, you announced together with four other UN agencies and five
pharmaceutical companies a 'turning point in the world's response to the
poorest Aids victims'. The companies suggested a drastic price reduction
for their aids drugs, which are unaffordable for virtually all aids
victims in developing countries. The Washington Post recently described
in disturbing detail the companies' lobby to get UN support for their
initiative, and how little the companies were eventually prepared to
do. Can you explain what results this initiative has brought until now?
How many people have actually gained access to aids-treatment because of
lower prices? Is this what you would describe a successful
public-private partnership?
From 4-8 December in Savar, Bangladesh, the People's Health Assembly took place. More than 1500 people from over 90 countries endorsed the People's Charter for Health, reflecting the worries about WHO having lost its leading role in international health.
"This Charter calls on people of the world to:
Demand a radical transformation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) so that it responds to health challenges in a manner which benefits the poor, avoids vertical approaches, ensures intersectoral work, involves people's organisations in the World Health Assembly, and ensures independence from corporate interests".
I would like to invite Ms. Brundtland to give her comments.
Victor, Kampala, Uganda
1) Do you think that the decentralisation of the WHO has proved to be successful, or do you regret the decision of spreading its offices around the world?
Can I ask Mrs Bruntland why, when in Norway, the world's 2nd largest oil exporter, we pay amongst the highest rates of direct and indirect tax in the world and still people must pay to see a doctor or dentist. Compound this with having to pay sometimes hundreds of dollars a month on medicine for cancer or aids sufferers at the same time calling it a welfare state.
I hope you are not running the WHO in the same way you ran the health service in Norway and your successors still are.
Jim Middleton, Glendale, Arizona, USA
I would like to congratulate WHO on an excellent 2000 World Health Report on healthcare systems. This kind of objective analysis on healthcare across the world will be invaluable to policy makers and researchers who wish to develop responsive and equitable systems that promote health. Ultimately, I hope, policy initiatives like this will change systems from being government headaches into the people of the world's greatest resources. Well done!
Although I am passionately anti-tobacco, surely the arguments against prohibition are clearly established. Driving anything underground is counterproductive, hence recent calls for the legalisation of soft drugs. In any case, the number of jobs in the tobacco industry means that a global ban would be universally unpopular for economic means. How could you justify this extreme policy?
Don't you think your credibility as head of WHO fell a bit short when as the leader of Norway you had no compassion for and sanctioned the hunting and killing of whales in the world's oceans?
I would like to ask Dr Bruntland what global progress has been made in dealing with the eradication of the world's most deadly insect, the mosquito?
I have always held the belief that the WHO does an excellent job and long may it continue to do so.
Agha Ata, USA
How much would it cost to provide the humanitarian aid of drinking water and sewage facilities available to everyone on this planet? How much did NATO spend on their humanitarian war in Kosovo? Which is more humanitarian - illuminating the ancient civilisations of the blue Danube, the Tigris and the Euphrates with brilliant fireworks of depleted uranium or providing the basic essentials of life like water and clean, hygienic living environment?
Dr Brundtland became Director General of the WHO on an anti-corruption platform, however, little has changed, if anything the organization has moved further away from a genuine health-technical agency towards a more political body, witness for example the leadership of the WHO-SEARO office. What happened to the anti-corruption platform?
Do you support socialized healthcare and what factor did it play in the WHO choosing the nations with the "best" healthcare?
Yiannis Tavridis, Thessaloniki, Greece
I am a South Sudanese now living in America. My question: Does The WHO have a strategy for protecting refugees from the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus, especially in refugee camps along the boards of Sudan/Uganda and Sudan/Kenya?
WHO's Vaccination program for World Wide Populations is vital to the future survival of the populations around the planet.
I am wondering if WHO will receive increased funding and supplies to keep the program going.
Additionally, if WHO is looking for nurses skilled in vaccine immunizations programs to work with the program,
I would like to obtain information on how I may apply to work in or promote this program.
Would you consider heading a campaign for the ban on the use of DU (Depleted Uranium) in ordinance?
Dave Pearce, Manchester, England
It was recently stated on a news report that the
WHO supported the claims by the UK government
that there is no credible evidence
that depleted uranium is toxic, and may
be responsible for the illnesses of
servicemen and civilians in Iraq and
Kosovo who have been exposed to it.
Is that claim true? What is the
position of the WHO regarding DU?
Do you think the WHO has a role not only as a source of expertise and advice, but also as a "hands on" agency working directly with patients?
Why was half of the rating system in your countrywide health system comparison skewed toward socialized healthcare? Are you trying to make a political statement or are you inadvertently biased toward systems like France?
Do you ever see a time when the large drug companies will supply the developing world with cheaper medicines?
Given the WHO's interest in the links between poverty and disease, where do you see the priorities for poverty reduction through programmes targeting infectious diseases?
Paul van den Bosch, Guildford, UK
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