FORMER health secretary and now House deputy majority leader Janette Garin said the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization may affect the resilience of the country’s health and other programs being supported by the WHO and even USAID.
“Napakaimportante nito sa Pilipinas kasi maraming usaping kalusugan at maraming programa sa kalusugan na kumukuha tayo ng funding support sa WHO. And of course, expected na ‘yung USAID ay bababa ang mga tinutulong nito sa mga bansa sa movement na ito,” Garin said on Thursday when asked regarding the implications of US’ withdrawal from WHO.
Moreover, the lawmaker expressed concern over the potential implications of such a move, saying that it could pave the way for countries such as China or Russia—given their substantial economies—to assume leadership of the health organization, granting them access to sensitive information that might pose an international security threat.
“Ang kalusugan kapag may pandemya threat ‘yan sa buong mundo so sila ang mag initial access, that is what is going to happen.”
The former health secretary also flagged the need to reform the WHO costs, saying that unnecessary expenses should be reduced, such as the “frequent travels” and “wine and dine,” to allocate more funds to health-related matters.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the US to withdraw from WHO.
Meanwhile, the lawmaker believes that Trump made the decision as they want to spend more for their internal needs, which she said is “understandable.”
“‘Yung sinasabing mishandling nung pandemic, walang perpektong response sa pandemic, kaya sa totoo lang ang pananaw ko dyan, naghahanap lang ng rason ang America, ang katotohanan dyan, talagang nagtitipid sila because they want to spend more for their internal needs which is understandable sa panahong ito,” Garin noted.
The Iloilo First District Representative also pointed out the important role of WHO to global health as it primarily conducts surveillance to public health emergencies nationwide. (END)
GENEVA – The World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday that every day, an estimated 1.6 million people become sick from eating unsafe food.
Children under the age of 5 carry 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden, Francesco Branca, head of nutrition and food safety at the WHO, told a UN press briefing in Geneva on World Food Safety Day.
Risks posed by unsafe food could rapidly evolve from a local problem into an international emergency, Branca said as he stressed that food safety hazards do not recognize borders.
Humanitarian crises in many parts of the world drive food insecurity and compromise food safety.
He urged governments to ensure that food safety is clear in their national action plans for health security and that the risk communication plans are updated and move towards integrated surveillance systems for animal, environmental, and human health.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sees safe food as “fundamental” to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a senior food safety officer told the briefing.
Markus Lipp added that safe food is also one of the prerequisites to fulfill FAO’s strategic plan to enable better production, nutrition, the environment, and lives.
“When food is produced and traded in a safe and sustainable agrifood system, it contributes to a healthy life and improves sustainability by enabling market access and productivity, which drives economic development and poverty alleviation, especially in rural areas,” Lipp said.
“In particular, improved food safety will safeguard public health and reduce child mortality,” he said, as children under 5 carry the highest burden of foodborne diseases.
(ia/mnm/Source:Anadolu)
By Junex Doronio
AS MILLIONS OF PHILHEATH (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) members were affected by the data breach in the system of the state insurer, this time the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) gave a confusing statement, saying that it was the Confucius group — not Medusa — that uploaded a copy of over 600 gigabytes of files.
The copy was reportedly uploaded to a website and a Telegram channel after 4 p.m. on October 5, two days after the deadline for a payment of about $300,000 or approximately P17 million, ransom expired.
DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said the hackers may sell the leaked information to scammers and phishers considering that the perpetrators were not able to get the money they asked for.
“They will try to monetize the information by selling to scammers, to phishers para gamitin ‘yung data nila (to use their data),” he said.
On the other hand, DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Dy said their analysis showed that there were no remnants of the Medusa malware in the members’ database.
Uy further said that investigators are still trying to identify if the hackers are Filipinos or foreigners.
“Sa tingin ko naman ‘yung local hindi sila maglalakas loob dahil mahahabol natin sila. Nasa loob ng ating jurisdiction,” he quipped.
Earlier, a video of the leaked information showed photos, bank cards, and transaction receipts of the victims, among others.
The DICT said that although the transaction data of some PhilHealth members were leaked but it assured the members’ database was not affected by the cyberattack. (ai/mnm)