March 2024

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A panel that was brought together by the Harvard Global Health Institute and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has strongly criticized the WTO. The panel was comprised of 19 global health experts working in academics, humanitarian agencies, and the legal profession. Their criticism was not solely directed at the organization; the panel called for extensive reform in how infectious diseases are handled throughout the globe. But much of the focus was on the WTO’s handling of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

 A delayed response

Ashish K. Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said:

“The most egregious failure was by WHO in the delay in sounding the alarm.  People at WHO were aware that there was an Ebola outbreak that was getting out of control by spring… and yet, it took until August to declare a public health emergency. The cost of the delay was enormous.”

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The report came as Liberia confirmed more cases

Two months after Liberia was declared free of the deadly Ebola virus, three new cases occurred, all in the same family. Liberian health minister Dr. Bernice Dahn said that it is possible that more cases will be found. Liberia has suffered the most deaths from the outbreak with the 4,808 casualties. The day after Liberia announced the new cases, the panel published a report in the renowned medical journal “The Lancet.” The report states:

The Ebola outbreak created immense human suffering, fear and chaos, largely unchecked by high-level political leadership or reliable and rapid institutional responses.”

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They provided recommendations

The report also offered 10 recommendations for handling infectious disease outbreaks in the future, including: creating a U.N. Security Council health committee to expedite political attention to health issues, publishing a list of countries that are quick to share information and those that delay information, and establishing a global fund to finance and accelerate the development of outbreak-relevant drugs and treatment. Jha worries the world may not have learned anything from the outbreak.  

“We’ve had big outbreaks before and even careful reviews after, but often the world gets distracted,” he said. “We owe it to the more than 11,000 people who died in West Africa to see that that doesn’t happen this time.”

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The WHO was not offended

Dr. Margaret Harris, spokeswoman on Ebola for the WHO, released a statement that showed that the organization was not offended by the findings of the report. In fact, they welcomed it. She said that the WTO was reviewing the report’s 10 recommendations along with those they have received from other groups.

“A number of its recommendations cover work that is already being done — including steps set in place by WHO in early 2015.  It is gratifying to see that there is consensus of thought on many of these key issues,” she said.

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SEE ALSO: Ebola Resurfaces In Liberia.