The World Health Organization has come under fire from global health experts for failing to respond soon enough to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
"The most egregious failure [was the organisation's] delay in sounding the alarm," said Professor Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 11,000 people since February last year – the vast majority of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – and is still ongoing.
Three cases of the deadly virus were reported in Liberia last week, two months after the country was declared free of the disease.
The outbreak has caused "immense human suffering, fear and chaos, largely unchecked by high-level political leadership or reliable and rapid institutional responses," concluded the damning report.
The panel of independent experts, convened by the Harvard Global Health Institute and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, made a series of recommendations for future outbreaks.
It went so far as to suggest that the organisation should be stripped of its role in declaring a disease epidemic to be an international emergency, reports The Guardian.
Other strategies included helping poorer countries monitor and respond to infectious diseases, greater accountability and the establishment of a global fund to finance the development of drugs.
"Major reform [is] not only feasible, but also essential so that we do not witness such depths of suffering, death and social and economic havoc in future epidemics," Professor Peter Piot, the panel's chairman and the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, told the BBC.
-
Starbucks workers are planning their ‘biggest strike’ everThe Explainer The union said 92% of its members voted to strike
-
‘These wouldn’t be playgrounds for billionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The 5 best nuclear war movies of all timeThe Week Recommends ‘A House of Dynamite’ reanimates a dormant cinematic genre for our new age of atomic insecurity
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
