GENEVA — Diseases killing millions of people all over the world are being neglected at this year’s World Health Assembly because of fears about swine flu and its potential to become a pandemic, health campaigners said Wednesday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was upset that discussions were postponed on fighting Chagas disease, a scourge in Latin American countries. Cancer and diabetes groups said non-communicable diseases responsible for 35 million deaths a year needed greater attention. And hepatitis campaigners were disappointed that a first-ever WHO resolution addressing that disease was dropped from the meeting’s agenda.
Health officials from some poorer nations also could not understand why the diseases hurting them most were a distant second to swine flu.
"Malaria, drug-resistant tuberculosis — they are killing people every day,” said Dr. Sam Zaramba, Uganda’s chief medical officer. "If all the emphasis that has been put on swine flu had been put on malaria and TB, we would have made a bigger impact on health.”
WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said the assembly still was taking on a "broad agenda” that went far beyond swine flu to deal with improving basic health care and tackling global killers like TB.
by the associated press
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