New report blames WHO for 'unjustifiable delays' in Ebola outbreak response

The World Health Organization's response to West Africa's Ebola outbreak was lagging and dangerously inconsistent, according to a new independent report on the international body's practices.

The report, led by former head of Oxfam Barbara Stocking, critiqued WHO's initial response to the epidemic that began in 2013 and has since claimed the lives of more than 11,000 people.

"The panel considers that WHO does not currently possess the capacity or organizational culture to deliver a full emergency public health response," the report reads, as covered by The Guardian.

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While the report also blasted individual countries' slow responses — especially citing the implementation of travel bans to Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea — the bulk of the blame fell on "significant and unjustifiable delays" by WHO's workers. Such gridlock could be detrimental in the event of future public health emergencies, and the report advises the creation of a WHO emergency preparedness center, which could operate independently and with authority in affected countries.