[WATCH]: 'We are creating the conditions in which epidemics flourish' warns WHO Director
Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Health Emergencies programme, has warned that if society does not learn from the current Covid-19 pandemic, much worse could be in store for future generations.
Ryan was speaking on Friday at a charity event focusing on the challenges of poverty and injustice in the developing world.
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"We are pushing nature to its limits. We are pushing populations to its limits. We are pushing communities to its limits, we are stressing the environment," said Ryan.
"We are creating the conditions in which epidemics flourish," he warned.
"We are doing it in the name of globalisation and some sense of chasing the great thing that people are calling economic growth," he noted, adding that it was leading to unsustainable practices.
"We are writing cheques that we cannot cash as a civilisation for the future and they are going to bounce. And my fear is that our children are going to pay that price."
Watch Ryan's powerful speech below:
Here is Dr. Mike Ryan speaking at a @trocaire event yesterday about the catastrophe we're walking into.
— Eoghan Rice (@rice_e) February 18, 2021
I genuinely think this is the most important clip you'll ever see. pic.twitter.com/eKxBWEu7SM