Major overhaul of WHO needed after failures, says Covid panel
Bloomberg
May 13 |
Updated on
May 13, 2021
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The panel’s report linked the severity of the global outbreak to deficiencies across governments and multilateral organisations
The World Health Organization should be overhauled and given more authority to investigate global disease threats, according to a review of the international Covid-19 response that found a myriad of failures, gaps, and delays that allowed the coronavirus to mushroom into a pandemic.
While stopping short of assigning blame to any particular factor, the report released Wednesday by an independent panel co-chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark linked the severity of the global outbreak to deficiencies across governments, the WHO and other multilateral organisations, and regulations that guide official actions.
Death and illness from Covid-19 is steadily rising once again. In the last week of April, more than 93,000 people died – approaching the worst of the global second wave. How can this still be happening? How can some countries still be experiencing wave after wave of infection when we know how to prevent them? For the past eight months, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response has been rigorously reviewing the evidence of what.