Though Margaret Chan, MD, the director-general of the World Health Organization, opened the 69th World Health Assembly by applauding successes in public health efforts against HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and polio, she warned that recent outbreaks including Ebola, Zika and yellow fever were serious threats to global health, stating, "The world is not prepared to cope."
Dr. Chan also suggested that a lack of preparedness and poor public health policy were culpable in the proliferation of these recent outbreaks, according to NBC News.
"Above all, the spread of Zika, the resurgence of dengue, and the emerging threat from chikungunya are the price being paid for a massive policy failure that dropped the ball on mosquito control in the 1970s," said Dr. Chan in her statement, according to NBC News.
Dr. Chan called for policy reform, stating, "Given what we face right now and the next surprises that are sure to come, the item on your agenda with the most sweeping consequences, for a danger that can quickly sweep around the world, is the one on the reform of WHO's work in health emergency management."
The director-general's address echoes the sentiments of the Obama administration and U.S. health officials who have been calling for funding to combat the spread of Zika domestically. President Barack Obama's request for $1.9 billion in emergency Zika funds has been the subject of fervent political contention.
In recent commentary published in The Washington Post, Ronald A. Klain, the White House Ebola response coordinator from 2014 to 2015, addressed the congressional gridlock that has stifled the allocation of Zika emergency response funds.
In the Post, Mr. Klain wrote, "It is not a question of whether babies will be born in the United States with Zika-related microcephaly — it is a question of when and how many. For years to come, these children will be a visible, human reminder of the cost of absurd wrangling in Washington, of preventable suffering, of a failure of our political system to respond to the threat that infectious diseases pose."
More articles on the Zika virus:
Boston hospitals report uptick in patients arriving with Zika worries
Number of pregnant Americans with Zika jumps to 279
Scientists collaborate to form OpenZika, a project to find virus treatment