CAIRO: Wealthy nations and development banks will be asked to donate $1.48 billion as part of the United Nations plan to help poor and developing countries combat the effects of swine flu. "The pandemic is upon us, Olga Jonas, the World Bank's economist coordinating avian and pandemic influenza in Washington, told Bloomberg. "The money needs to be provided very quickly. Egypt's Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs filed an official request to the United Nations' secretary-general to ensure the fair distribution of the swine flu vaccine among all nations. Rich countries are getting their share of the vaccine to cover all of their citizens' needs while poor and developing nations are not even getting the minimum amount, said Minister of Health Hatem El-Gabaly in a press conference last Thursday. The pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world's poorest nations unless the UN can persuade rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines, according to a recent report titled "Urgent Support for Developing Countries' Responses to the H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. The report was prepared by the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the UN System Influenza Coordination in response to a request by donors for an assessment of needs. "H1N1 may become more aggressive over the coming months, which is why the process focuses on interventions that can be executed rapidly, the authors said. The full impact of the pandemic in least-developed countries has yet to be seen as it's only now beginning to penetrate very poor communities, they added. The World Bank has extended $500 million of credit since mid 2009 to enable developing and middle-income countries to improve pandemic flu preparedness, reported Bloomberg. In Egypt, the government is taking more precautions in coordination with Saudi Arabia ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage season. Civil aviation authorities in Egypt received instructions from authorities in Saudi Arabia regarding the pilgrimage this year, which include ensuring that all pilgrims have been vaccinated against swine flu, Asian flu and meningitis. Pilgrims whose body temperature is found to be above 38 degrees will not be allowed to travel. Food and beverages are not allowed on board. Five new cases of swine flu were discovered in Egypt, bringing the total number to 927, according Abdel Rahman Shahin, Ministry of Health spokesperson. All these cases were of Egyptians coming back after performing the lesser pilgrimage, Umrah, in Saudi Arabia.
