Position Paper- South Korea

Committee Name: Preventing the Spread of H1N1

Committee Topic: The Committee on Preventing the spread of H1N1.

Country: Republic of Korea

Delegate: Eric Hung, Mingdao High School

Background of Topic:

H1N1 is an influenced virus causing illness in people. This virus was first detected in people in the United States in March 2009. Other countries, including Mexico and Canada, have reported people sick with this new virus. This virus is spreading from person-to-person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenced viruses spread.

The symptoms of H1N1 flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with H1N1 flu. In the past, severe illness and deaths have been reported with H1N1 flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

United Nations Involvement:

The WHO (World Health Organization) is the organization involved to deal with H1N1. Over 3,000 people worldwide had died from H1N1, but the mortality rate of H1N1 is not as high as SARS. The mortality rate of SARS is about 17% and only about 1% for H1N1.

World Health Organization Director-General Dr Margaret Chan and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had met with over 30 vaccine manufacturers from countries at WHO headquarters. Both the Director-General and the Secretary-General stressed the importance of assuring that any eventual vaccine for H1N1 was made available in a spirit of equity and fairness, and invited the manufacturers to continue to work with them to develop a strategy for this.

A WHO agency said that the rush of producing vaccines to fight the spread of the H1N1 virus will not endanger the safety or effectiveness of any new drug, so you don't need to be panic about what's inside the drugs.

And the WHO strongly recommends that students, teachers, and other staff who feel unwell should stay at home. In addition, plans should be in place, and space made available to isolate students and staff that become ill while at school.

County Actions:

The South Korean government is rolling out a set of new measures to control the effects of a possible flu pandemic as schools open for the fall term and the number of H1N1 influenza deaths climbs to five. The government aims to secure an estimated 15 million doses of vaccine to begin vaccinations from mid-November, and also hopes to secure enough drugs to treat 10 million people by the end of the year.

Policy Position:

The South Korea had joined both the United Nation Organization and World Health Organization at 1991, and we were rejected by communist Security Council members like China and Soviet Union (USSR).

Solution:

The Republic of Korea thinks that all countries should be careful about the worldwide spread of H1N1, although the mortality rate of H1N1 is only about 1%, but countries should still beware on the spread of H1N1 cautiously. We also think that countries should cooperate with health organizations like UN or WHO to control the epidemic situation.