World Health Organization (WHO)
Topic A: Avian Flu
In late January, U.S. health officials announced that a new strain of avian flu, H5N9, was discovered on a duck farm in Merced County, California. Disclosure of this new strain comes amid rising concern about the earlier strain, H5N1. That outbreak has infected dairy cows and poultry farms around the country, causing thousands of animals to be killed. It continues to spread. The good news is that there have been fewer than 100 cases in humans around the world, with one death. But that could quickly change if the virus mutates into a strain that is more easily spread among humans.
The bird flu seems to be changing genetically to infect other animals, so we do not know what the next variant has in store for humanity. Could it be the next Pandemic? Birds are everywhere and are hard to manage. H5N1 heavily damaged cattle and poultry products around the world, putting farmers and those who work closely with animals at risk. Despite the threats, there is increasing anger that not enough is being done to address the topic. With a virus that could have such broad implications, more needs to be done.
Topic B: Rising burden of NCDs in middle-income countries
NCDs refer to health problems like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases. Low-middle-income countries (LMICs), in addition to disproportionately facing the effects of climate change and poor economies, now face an additional burden with the inexorable rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as deaths due to NCDs in poor countries are expected to rise drastically in the next decade. Nearly 2/3rds of NCD deaths already occur in these countries, and any more will have broad implications. For example, the rapid rise in NCDs is predicted to impede poverty reduction initiatives all over the world since they increase household costs associated with health care. This committee must address this issue together as deaths due to NCDs in LMICs are expected to increase from 30.8 million in 2015 to 41.8 million by 2030.
