Declarações da OMS sobre a pandemia H1N1: nega conflito de interesse e reafirma o estado de pandemia

O tema da pandemia da influenza H1N1 e assunto recurrente neste blog. Recentemente, divulgamos as acusações de possível conflito de interesse de membros do painel de aconselhamento da Organização Mundial da Saude (OMS) e também participantes da industria farmacêutica. Ha em curso uma investigação do parlamento europeu sobre o tema.
Hoje Erika Aragão, nossa colega na FIOCRUZ-Bahia, nos enviou noticia sobre as declarações  da OMS sobre o tema. 

A OMS vem de divulgar declarações feitas no Conselho da Europa (texto completo) e sobre as alegações de conflito de interesse (texto completo).

Nas declarações, a OMS, reafirma os seus necessários vínculos com a industria farmacêutica e assegura que opera com mecanismos de salvaguarda para lidar com conflito de interesse:

"WHO recognizes that global cooperation with a range of partners, including the private sector, is essential to pursue public health objectives today and in the future. Numerous safeguards are in place to manage conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest among members of WHO advisory groups and expert committees."

Reafirma ainda a existência da pandemia:

"The world is going through a real pandemic. The description of it as a fake is wrong and irresponsible. We welcome any legitimate review process that can improve our work."

A declaração do Dr. Fukuda, no Conselho da Europa, em nome da OMS, conclui com:

"In closing, I would like to reiterate the most basic point. This current influenza pandemic is a scientifically well-documented event in which the emergence and spread of a new influenza virus has caused an unusual epidemiological pattern of disease throughout the world. This is not an arbitrary matter of word-smithing, definitions or polemics. The labelling of the pandemic as "fake" is to ignore recent history and science and to trivialize the deaths of over 14 000 people and the many additional serious illnesses experienced by others.

As we go forward, the world will continue to face many difficult health challenges. The resources to face them are limited, especially among developing countries, and finding ways to do this better is the shared responsibility of Member States and organizations, such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as WHO."