World Health Organisation’s botched response to COVID19

I have always been an ardent critic of the functioning of the United Nations led multilateral system. The organization is itself a product of the power structure of the world as it was after World War II. The various agencies of UN have time and again proved incapable of the challenges presented by the changing world dynamics. In the recent times, this is even more so, with the ongoing COVID19 Coronavirus Pandemic and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) botched attempt at responding to it.  

The WHO’s response to the pandemic has prompted a cloud of criticisms and questions, with many experts believing that the organisation failed to call out China for its early concealment of the epidemic. According to various sources, the doctors in Wuhan were aware of the virus transmitting between human beings as early as December 2019. However, on January 14, 2020, WHO disregarded the evidence when it sent out the tweet that said: “there was no evidence of human to human transmission”. So, what went wrong in the weeks between? The WHO clearly disseminated China’s false narrative that the virus was not communicable.

Not only this. Up until January 30, it delayed declaring the coronavirus epidemic as “a public health emergency of international concern”. Obviously, it was too late then. The coronavirus was far more dangerous than claimed by China.  This misinformation didn’t allow other countries to take precautions they would have otherwise adopted. By the time WHO renamed the disease as a pandemic, it has spread to more than 100 countries.

The organisation never questioned China’s original statistics on Wuhan’s mortality rate due to COVID19. WHO publicly backed the reliability of China’s statistics, and Wuhan’s undercounting of its coronavirus deaths.  On the contrary, it praised the authoritarian government for its transparency and cooperation. Several weeks later, WHO also supported the Chinese government’s attempt to prevent the imposition of travel bans from China, which ultimately resulted in the virus turning into a global pandemic. What more? There are significant loopholes in the information provided by WHO on the pandemic as well.  Although it is hard to say definitive at this point, and we need an independent investigation in order to understand who knew what and when.

Added to this is the infamous video of WHO’s Dr. Bruce Aylward with Hong Kong’s RHTK, who refused to talk about Taiwan. This points out to the refusal of the organization to recognize the existence of Taiwan, following the path of its parent organization. This stance reflects politicization of the organization, and further adds to the claims that China has potential influence over WHO’s decisions.

It is interesting to note here that the US is the largest contributor to WHO’s budget. Recently, Donald Trump decided to halt US funding until the WHO’s coronavirus mismanagement is investigated. As Brahma Chellaney point outs, this will help build pressure and spark meaningful discussion on the reform of WHO. I believe, halting funding to WHO sends out an extremely powerful message. At the same time, this does not mean that US is abandoning the world during the middle of a pandemic. It will continue to engage and work with other countries.

WHO, as we see it today is poorly coordinated, slow to act and overly politicized. Recommendation on reforms have not been followed up. This is not surprising, earlier in 2014-16, the WHO was slow to respond to the African Ebola outbreak as well.  President Trump correctly points out, “WHO has failed it basic duty and must be held accountable”. The World Needs WHO more than ever. Coronavirus is a global problem that needs global solution. It is currently lacking leadership and a global plan. Only united action among the countries, with or without WHO can stop the pandemic from triggering a humanitarian crisis.  

Source: CNN