Sidney University. Australia: The 2014 Ebola outbreak in west Africa has demonstrated again the
urgent need for strong leadership and coordination in responding to
global health challenges. As members of the global health scholarly
community, we call upon all WHO Member States to recommit themselves to
strengthening global outbreak alert and response by sustainably
investing in the WHO, its departments, and personnel.
As members
of the WHO secretariat have admitted, mistakes were made in how the
organisation initially responded to the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Ahead
of the 68th World Health Assembly in May, 2015, the temptation will be
to point fingers and use the extreme case of Ebola to justify further
erosion of the WHO. The temptation might also be to divert voluntary
contributions to other institutions. We firmly believe that any such
measures must be approached with extreme care.
In international
forums, a proposal is being discussed to establish a new "first
responder" UN agency, which will provide emergency operational
assistance in humanitarian crises by rapidly deploying trained
personnel, equipment, and supplies. While an enhanced rapid response
would be beneficial, a new agency would be subject to the same vagaries
of institutional funding and Member State interests in delivering its
mandate. Even more importantly, these are functions that the WHO already
fulfils via the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN),
which maintains a roster of experts that can be deployed to assist in
humanitarian disasters. The resources to create an entirely new agency
would therefore be better served by strengthening the WHO's emergency
response division rather than duplicating existing functions. Resources
could also be more effectively used to help Member States implement the
International Health Regulations (2005) via health system strengthening.
An
independent investigation of the WHO's handling of the 2014 Ebola
outbreak is both appropriate and warranted. The investigation should
focus on the structural and procedural elements of institutional
practice, consider how recent funding cuts affected the WHO's ability to
respond, and identify pathways to sustainable funding of the
institution.
The WHO can provide global health leadership that is
technically informed and representative. The organisation remains a
fundamental element of global health governance, and provides an
indispensable service as the lead technical agency in global health.
While mistakes have been made, rather than engage in the further
dismantling of the WHO we call on all Member States and the
international community to give the organisation the resources it needs
to serve its members and the populations they represent.
Adam Kamradt-Scott, Sophie Harman, Joao Nunes, Anne Roehmer-Mahler, and Clare Wenham, on behalf of 95 signatories.
Find the original letter and the full list of signatories in The Lancet.