WHO incapable of effective response to Ebola outbreak-like health crises

Among the panel’s comments and recommendations:

• “The panel considers that WHO does not currently possess the capacity or organizational culture to deliver a full emergency public health response,” the report says.
• Member states share at least part of the blame for the inadequate response because they have not fulfilled their responsibilities under the WHO’s international health regulations. They are required to collect data and carry out surveillance to pick up infectious disease outbreaks at an early stage but they failed, the report says.
• Other member states violated the regulations by imposing bans on travel to the affected West African nations — Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. These and other measures “significantly interfered with international travel, causing negative political, economic and social consequences for the affected countries,” the report says.
• The WHO itself is criticized for “significant and unjustifiable delays” in declaring a public health emergency, which belatedly fired the starting gun for the international response to Ebola.
• The report says that the general flouting of the rules put in place to keep the world safe from infectious disease cannot continue. “The panel considers this situation, in which the global community does not take seriously its obligations under the international health regulations (2005) – a legally binding document – to be untenable.”
• Organizational and financial issues must be addressed immediately. Less than 25 percent of the WHO’s budget comes from core funds contributed by member states and there are no core funds for emergency response. “The longstanding policy of zero nominal growth policy for assessed contributions has dangerously eroded the purchasing power of WHO’s resources, further diminishing the organization’s emergency capacity,” the report says. It recommends a 5 percent increase.
• There should be incentives for countries to declare an emergency — at the moment many would be unwilling because of the damaging impact on trade and the economy — and disincentives to countries imposing travel bans and other measures that interfere with trade.
• There be a WHO center for emergency preparedness and response which can take the lead in avoiding and dealing with outbreaks, overseen by an independent board, and that the independence of WHO’s country officers be reinforced.
• “At country level, the WHO representative must have an independent voice and be assured of the full support of the regional director and the director-general, if challenged by governments,” the report says.

“The recommendations outlined by the independent panel should give WHO the mandate it needs to lead the global response to future health crises. The proposal to establish a WHO center for emergency preparedness and response is encouraging,” Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, told the Guardian.

“It’s essential that this new body is accountable and can show leadership in the face of emerging health threats, with the authority and independence to act quickly when needed. The support of the global community is also crucial if we are to avert another catastrophe on the scale of Ebola.”

— Read more in Report of the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel - July 2015