90 Quotes by Margaret Chan

"WHO has a country office in nearly every developing country, usually located close to the Ministry of Health. Staff in these offices need to do much more to help ministries of health strengthen their national health plans and strategies and then negotiate with development partners to support these priorities and follow these plans."

"We must understand that when one country is not safe, the world is not safe. Pandemic influenza, by nature, will go around the world, so it is important for us to work as an international community to get a better handle on the issue."

"Time is of the essence. We must act now if we are to have the maximum possible opportunity to contain a pandemic."

"We are not in a pandemic situation. It is still an animal disease."

"Timing is unpredictable and the severity is uncertain."

"There has been a meeting and discussions are still in progress. The talks have been taking place between the two sides here and in the United States."

"While we cannot predict when or if the H5N1 virus might spark a pandemic, we cannot ignore the warning signs, ... For the first time in human history, we have a chance to prepare ourselves for a pandemic before it arrives."

"We cannot think of the old days when we were dealing with SARS. It's a totally different ballgame now."

"With increased surveillance its not unusual that you would pick up more cases."

"When is the next time? We don't have a time frame. I suspect it will likely to be November, if history is anything to go by."