Y2K Risk Is Medium To High For Public Health, Says UN

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Y2K risk is medium to high for public health, says UN 1: 07 PM AEST December 14

UN officials monitoring the risk of Y2K errors as the millennium ends around the globe, said today there was a "medium to high risk" that Y2K problems could harm public health and safety, particularly in developing countries. In a final survey report before 2000 dawns, the International Y2K Cooperation Centre predicted many Y2K glitches, but it said businesses and governments will experience only limited damage in the early days of January.

It said the risk from Y2K throughout the world is decreasing as readiness increases, although developing countries are not as prepared as industrialised nations.

While the threat to human life is small, it is "not zero" the centre said in a review covering 197 countries. Inconveniences could range from minor to loss of jobs because of the collapse of businesses.

"Around the world, the great majority of organisation- including businesses and governments - will experience only limited damage from the Y2K bug," said Bruce W. McConnel, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center.

Preparation efforts, "the limited use of digital controls in most infrastructures and society's general resilience means that, although there will be many Y2K-caused errors, the combined negative effect of this errors will be moderate," McConnel said.

Y2K is shorthand for the year 2000 problem, which occurs because some computer programs, especially older ones, may fail when the date changes from 1999. Because they were written only to recognise the last two digits of a year, such programs could read the digits "00" as 1900 instead of 2000.

The report surveys preparations from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. It discusses arrangements to monitor and respond to potential Y2K emergencies and economic problems.

It foresees few serious Y2K-caused effects in seven sectors- energy, telecommunications, finance, transportation, customs and immigration, food and water systems.

But in health and hospitals and in government services, there "remains a medium to high risk that localised Y2k-caused errors could adversely affect public health and safety in the early days of January."

The centre established an Internet-based Global Systems Watch (GSW) where national government Y2K coordinators can provide information on the eight sectors. These results can be accessed by the general public at a centre website, www.iy2kcc.org , starting Dec 29.

The GSW was successfully tested Dec 8-9 with 78 countries participating in the test, the centre said.

The report said computer failures unrelated to Y2K occur every day because information technology is imperfect.

"Some automatic teller machines do not work, incorrect bills are generated, viruses invade networks and systems crash. Society copes," it said.

Around Jan 1, the temptation to blame these failures on the Y2K bug should be avoided, the report said.

The centre was established in February 1999 under UN auspices with $US1 million in World Bank funding to coordinate worldwide efforts for a smooth transition to 2000.

http://www.excite.com.au/news/story/aap/19991214/14/international/un-y2k-readiness-us.inp

-- LOON (blooney10@aol.com), December 14, 1999


Moderation questions? read the FAQ