WHO seeks $306m for SARS fight

THE World Health Organisation is seeking $US200 million ($306.2m) to help Asian nations combat the SARS virus as the crisis eases in China, but deepens in Taiwan.

The Geneva-based UN health agency today said it was launching a fund to boost Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome surveillance and analysis in China and other hard-hit nations.It hoped businesses would give half the money and governments the rest.”The money will be disbursed rapidly, to get it to the areas that need it most as quickly as possible,” said WHO’s communicable diseases chief, Dr David Heymann.”Our sense of urgency comes from the belief that there remains a window in which we can control SARS and eliminate the global threat it poses forever.” WHO officials declined to say whether or not Taiwan would receive assistance from the fund.The island is not a member of the agency due to opposition from China, which fiercely opposes attempts by Taiwan to be recognised as an independent country.Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war.WHO has already faced criticism for only starting to help Taiwan tackle SARS after China agreed to the move earlier this month.Taiwan today reported eight new deaths and 65 more SARS cases, its biggest one-day jump in infections, a day after WHO expanded its travel warning to all parts of the island.Taiwan has so far seen 483 cases and 60 deaths – the world’s third-highest toll – and has more than 12,000 people under quarantine. The world death toll from SARS has risen to 684, with more than 8000 people infected.However, in China, thousands of Beijing students have attended classes for the first time in a month, two weeks after SARS cases peaked in the capital. Heavy traffic also returned to the city’s streets today, and fewer people were wearing face masks as some restaurants and bars began reopening.Still, in an indication that its battle against the disease is not over, China announced 26 new SARS cases and four fatalities.The new figures bring the mainland’s death toll to 300 and the number of infections to 5271.Hong Kong reported three more SARS deaths, pushing its toll to 258, but just three new cases.Singapore announced two more deaths, taking its toll to 31, but no new infections. In Washington, experts told a US congressional hearing that while SARS may be retreating in many places, it could reappear late this year and spread from developing parts of the world to American cities.”We have not yet begun to see the worst of SARS,” predicted Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.”If this projection is correct, we have every reason to believe that this disease may show up in multiple US cities.” (Source: The Daily Telegraph, Christopher Bodeen, 23 May 03)