WHO Director-General discusses avian influenza and polio with President Bush
THE PRESIDENT: It's been my honor to welcome the Director of the World Health Organization, Dr. Lee, to the Oval Office, where we have just had an extensive conversation with high-ranking officials in my administration about the international strategy to deal with a possible pandemic of avian flu.
And I want to thank you, Dr. Lee, for staying on top of this issue; for raising the consciousness of the world; for helping to develop an international response; and for working so closely with Mike Leavitt and Julie Gerberding and Bob Zoellick of the State Department. This is a remarkable collaborative effort to do our duty to help people.
The other thing that's really interesting, I found out, is Dr. Lee told me we're very close to eradicating polio. And I want to congratulate you -- from the world, by the way -- and I want to congratulate you for your good work on that issue.
DIRECTOR LEE: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: You're a good public servant. I'm just proud to welcome you here, to the Oval Office.
DIRECTOR LEE: Well, thank you very much. Clearly, we've been working on avian flu and pandemic flu for many years. But it really didn't take off until the President launched this initiative in September, in New York. And then after that, he mentioned -- he raised this issue with many heads of state. That really made a difference. I'm very honored to be here.
And about polio eradication, it was a teamwork. I appreciated the effort of the United States, especially the AID and CDC. And in the presence of the Secretary and also the Director, Julie Gerberding, that it is wonderful to be able to say that we are about to eradicate polio.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Dr. Lee.