WHO and global leaders could have averted Covid calamity, experts say Scathing report finds wealthy nations ‘wasted’ February 2020 through inaction
about 2 hours ago Clive Cookson in London
A family member carries a patient who is having difficulty in breathing, to a free oxygen support centre being run by a Gurudwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, on the outskirts of New Delhi on Monday. Photograph: Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images
A swift and collaborative international response could have stopped the 2019 Covid-19 outbreak in China becoming a global catastrophe in 2020, according to a scathing report on the response of world leaders and the World Health Organisation to the pandemic.
Covid-19 pandemic was preventable, report saysInternational 2021-05-13, by Editor Comments Off 5
The Covid-19 pandemic was preventable, an independent review panel has said.
The panel, set up by the World Health Organization, said the combined response of the WHO and global governments was a “toxic cocktail”.
The WHO should have declared a global emergency earlier than it did, its report said, adding that without urgent change the world was vulnerable to another major disease outbreak.
More than 3.3 million people around the world have now died of Covid.
While the US and Europe are beginning to ease restrictions and resume some aspects of pre-pandemic life, the virus is still devastating parts of Asia.
Thursday, 13 May 2021, 6:16 am
Expert independent panel calls for urgent reform of
pandemic prevention and response systems
The
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response is
today calling on the global community to end the COVID-19
pandemic and adopt a series of bold and essential reforms to
prevent the next crisis
GENEVA –12 May
2021
A panel of leading experts is today
calling on the global community to end the COVID-19 pandemic
by immediately implementing a series of bold recommendations
to redistribute, fund, and increase the availability of and
manufacturing capacity for vaccines, and to apply proven
public health measures urgently and consistently in every
UNAIDS
UNAIDS strongly welcomes the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), which highlight the urgent need to establish a Global Health Threats Council. The recommendations state that participation in the council must be at the highest political level in order to coordinate global action against pandemics and secure agreement between governments on aligning efforts to tackle the health, social and economic challenges of major pandemics.
The IPPR recommendations are a wake-up call for transforming health systems across the world,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Health is a universal public good in this interconnected society-no one is safe until everyone is safe, so we must reimagine health to provide the same quality of care regardless of geography, income or social status.”