{"id":170672,"date":"2021-06-26T23:47:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T18:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/?p=170672"},"modified":"2021-06-26T23:47:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T18:17:31","slug":"ahf-six-reasons-why-who-chief-should-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/ahf-six-reasons-why-who-chief-should-go\/","title":{"rendered":"AHF: Six Reasons Why WHO Chief Should Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the process to appoint a new Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) gets underway, United Nations Member States must consider a change in leadership at the WHO, according to AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF),<\/strong> the world\u2019s largest provider of HIV\/AIDS care globally. The appointment of the next WHO Director-General is\u00a0slated for May 2022\u00a0after the current WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, completes his first term by the end of 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary leadership, which is why we need a new candidate to head up the WHO. When looking at some of the most glaring missteps in the global response to COVID-19, it\u2019s clear that following the same path will not end the pandemic anytime soon,\u201d said AHF President Michael Weinstein.<\/strong> \u201cWhen billions of lives are on the line, a WHO leader must be unencumbered by allegiances to anyone but his duties to openly speak and do whatever is necessary to protect global public health. Sadly, that hasn\u2019t been the case in the ongoing pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that when the pandemic called for bold leadership and innovative thinking, the WHO repeatedly became mired in international politics and bureaucracy, instead of quickly implementing critical public health measures. These repeated failures leave the world vulnerable to new and ongoing health emergencies unless an independent and proactive leader is put in charge of the WHO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire world has felt the ramifications of the slow response to COVID-19, but the long-term economic and social impact on Africa will be particularly acute given the current vaccine shortages,\u201d said AHF Africa Bureau Chief Dr. Penninah Iutung.<\/strong> \u201cIf we are to truly protect the health of the entire world, the WHO must be led by someone beyond reproach who is willing to speak up no matter the circumstances. The past mistakes with COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreaks over the past half-decade make it clear WHO must change its direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following six reasons underscore why WHO needs a new Director-General:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. WHO delayed declaring COVID-19 a pandemic.<\/b><\/p>\n

Despite the spread of COVID-19 to multiple countries, the WHO waited until March 11, 2020, to\u00a0declare a pandemic, 40 days after declaring it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).<\/p>\n

2. Lack of transparency regarding the origin of COVID-19.<\/b><\/p>\n

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus\u00a0repeatedly praised\u00a0China for acting quickly and transparently, even though it denied scientists access to\u00a0vital data\u00a0on the origins of the outbreak.<\/p>\n

3. Inability to mobilize and coordinate resources to help low- and middle-income countries.<\/b><\/p>\n

COVAX expects to provide enough vaccines to\u00a0protect 20%\u00a0of people in 92 lower-income nations, but WHO says that to stop COVID-19, at\u00a0least 70%\u00a0of people need to be vaccinated.<\/p>\n

4. Delays in vaccine approvals.<\/b><\/p>\n

It took the WHO four months, until April 30, to\u00a0authorize the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine\u00a0for emergency use after it was already approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).<\/p>\n

5. Lack of authoritative guidance in preventing and responding to public health crises.<\/b><\/p>\n

Without consistent guidance from the WHO on case reporting, travel restrictions, protective equipment, and the use of various drugs like\u00a0Ibuprofen\u00a0or dexamethasone, nearly every country\u00a0acted on its own, creating confusion.<\/p>\n

6. Failure to implement previous proposals to radically reform WHO.<\/b><\/p>\n

After the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak and other recent health emergencies, numerous proposals were drafted calling for\u00a0reforms of the WHO\u00a0to be better prepared to fight pandemics. Few substantive reforms were ever implemented, leaving the world vulnerable to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

At the\u00a075th World Health Assembly\u00a0in May 2022, Member States will have an opportunity to decide who will lead the WHO for the next five years. Their choice must be transparent and informed by the past performance of WHO leadership and whether it has delivered on its mission of protecting global health. If it has not, as the evidence suggests, then Member States have an obligation to their citizens to ensure that a more capable leader is appointed, as the world is still trying to come to grips with COVID-19. Member States can submit the names of possible candidates to the WHO Executive Board until\u00a0mid-September 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the process to appoint a new Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) gets underway, United Nations Member States must consider a change in leadership at the WHO, according to AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world\u2019s largest provider of HIV\/AIDS care globally. The appointment of the next WHO Director-General is\u00a0slated for May 2022\u00a0after the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12377,9231],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-170672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-covid-19","8":"category-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}