Authors:
José Alberto López Rafaschieri and Luis Alberto López Rafaschieri
www.morochos.net
Despite all the measures that have been applied in the world to halt the advance of the so-called swine flu virus -influenza A(H1N1)- everyday an increasing number of countries report infected people.
In this situation we see that developed countries are facing this crisis with health policies that differ markedly from measures taken by Latin American nations. For example, in the United States, President Obama announced that his government has prepared 50 million doses of swine flu treatment, preventing any outbreak of this virus in his country, and that he has asked Congress for an additional 1.5 billion to purchase more antiviral medication, emergency equipment and fund vaccine development.
In contrast, in Latin America we see that almost all governments are limited to detect cases, but there is no plan to deal with a hypothetical situation of influenza A(H1N1) pandemic. We don't see Latin American presidents taking measures like buying ambulances -and we know that our region lacks enough of them- stockpiling antivirals to prepare for a potential pandemic, conditioning facilities for infected patients, or providing more money to hospitals to buy the necessary equipment.
Our politicians are not taking into account that WHO announced that all countries are at risk, so it is highly probable that several of our nations will report cases of swine flu.
What we have in Latin America are leaders who tell us everyday that we are prepared to meet any emergency, but all those who live in Spanish-speaking America know that our countries are not sufficiently organized to confront the current global health crisis.
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