UN Chief: $1 Billion Needed Against Swine Flu

The United Nations may need more than $1 billion this year to help poor countries fight the global swine flu epidemic, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

Ban said the money is needed to ensure that poor countries get some vaccine doses and antivirals if the global epidemic continues to spread. But he could not provide exact details on how the $1 billion would be spent.

"The funding has not been flowing as we have been expecting," Ban told reporters. "We are now mobilizing all resources possible."

Since the World Health Organization declared swine flu to be a pandemic, or global epidemic, last month, experts have worried about the virus' impact on developing countries.

For the moment, swine flu is mild and most people recover without needing treatment. But the virus could have a more devastating impact in countries where populations are fighting other health problems like AIDS, pneumonia, malaria and tuberculosis.

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World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan told potential donors that she wants to start a minimum stockpile of vaccines to 49 of the world's least developed countries as a first step. She did not name the countries.

"Many of the developing countries have weak health systems," said Chan. "They actually go into this pandemic what I call empty-handed. They don't have antivirals. They don't have vaccines. They don't have antibiotics."

Many rich countries like Britain, Canada and France have stockpiles of the antiviral Tamiflu, as well as orders for pandemic vaccine to cover their entire populations. The vast majority of developing countries have no such plans. WHO has a small stockpile of Tamiflu donated by Roche for developing countries.

In May, the U.N. asked vaccine producers to reserve a portion of their pandemic vaccine production for poor countries. Some companies have agreed to help. GlaxoSmithKline PLC offered to donate 50 million doses of pandemic vaccine to WHO for distribution to developing countries.