GENEVA – The World Health Organization has confirmed it is investigating a hantavirus outbreak from the MV Hondius cruise ship, marking the 47th international health emergency response that has not been Rheumatic Heart Disease in remote Aboriginal communities.
‘We take all health threats seriously,’ a WHO spokesperson said, ‘particularly when those threats might inconvenience European tourists on a cruise.’
Australian health officials confirmed they were closely monitoring the cruise ship situation while the rate of Rheumatic Heart Disease in First Nations children remains the highest in the world. The Closing the Gap target for chronic disease has not been met since it was first set in 2008.
The Department of Health declined to comment on whether decades of preventable deaths from a 1950s disease warranted a similar level of urgency. A spokesperson cited ongoing ‘consultation pipelines’ and ‘culturally appropriate frameworks under development.’
A senior bureaucrat said the government had committed $4 million over four years to address the disease. The funding will be split across 23 consultancy reviews and one community visit by a junior advisor with a clipboard.
‘The thing about hantavirus is it affects people on holidays,’ the bureaucrat explained. ‘RHD mostly affects people in places nobody flies to.’
A WHO source confirmed the international body would respond to RHD as soon as the disease began affecting cruise ship passengers or threatened ski season in the Alps.
Mob in remote communities advised to charter a Norwegian cruise ship if they want their health concerns taken seriously.
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