H1N1 Outbreak in North Korea Defies Perfection of Its Universal Health Care System

The outbreak is serious enough that North Korea has ended the school year prematurely, but still isn’t acknowledging the outbreak, though there are posters springing up advising the people to practice basic sanitation (though I wonder how many have clean water). The Daily NK suggests that shortages of coal and firewood to heat the schools are another reason for the closures.

Shockingly, North Korea’s superior universal health care system hasn’t been effective at stemming the spread or diagnosing H1N1, according to the Daily NK. This is astonishing. After all, noted North Korea expert Christine Ahn has informed us that “[t]he World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies have praised their delivery of basic health services, noting that North Korean children were far better vaccinated than American children, and that life expectancy rates in North Korea surpassed that of South Korea.” How can I possibly make sense of this?

Meanwhile, South Korea is offering unconditional aid to stop the outbreak. As long as the aid isn’t cash, that is good. The latest word is that North Korea will accept the South’s offer.

More on past outbreaks of communicable disease in North Korea here.