Microbes don't know geography - WHO report
Regardless of capability or wealth, no country is immune to the increasing risk of disease outbreaks, epidemics, industrial accidents and other health emergencies, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
Public health is threatened on a global scale, and the prospect of a safer future will depend on countries working together to identify risks and acting to contain and control them, warned the WHO World Health Report 2007, entitled A Safer Future, released on Thursday.
"Some of the most serious threats to human existence are likely to emerge without warning. It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, another SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome], sooner or later," it said.
With infectious diseases emerging faster than ever before, closer global cooperation is vital to tackle the growing health threat, and "no single country ... can alone prevent, detect and respond to all public-health threats."
