A call for an early-warning protocol for infectious diseases
- Written by The Conversation
The World Health Organization (WHO[1]) has come in for its share of criticism[2] for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some faults are the responsibility of the WHO, others were caused by member states, which did not always act as quickly[3] as they should have.
In our opinion, the fundamental problem was that the WHO’s current information sharing, response and organisational structure to deal with infectious diseases that may spread across borders quickly and dangerously is out of date.
We argue the global population deserves a better model — one that delivers information about the risk of emergent infectious diseases faster and in a way that is transparent, verifiable and non-politicised.
More than one million[4] people have died[5] of COVID-19, and that number could double[6] before the pandemic is brought under control.
COVID-19 is not the first pandemic, nor will it be the last. The WHO was also criticised after the 2014 Ebola epidemic[7].
Read more: The WHO's coronavirus inquiry will be more diplomatic than decisive. But Australia should step up in the meantime[8]
References
- ^ WHO (www.who.int)
- ^ criticism (time.com)
- ^ act as quickly (apnews.com)
- ^ one million (coronavirus.jhu.edu)
- ^ died (www.bbc.com)
- ^ double (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ 2014 Ebola epidemic (gh.bmj.com)
- ^ The WHO's coronavirus inquiry will be more diplomatic than decisive. But Australia should step up in the meantime (theconversation.com)
- ^ 1851 (apps.who.int)
- ^ such as the WHO (www.who.int)
- ^ International Health Regulations (www.who.int)
- ^ The next once-a-century pandemic is coming sooner than you think – but COVID-19 can help us get ready (theconversation.com)
- ^ Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (www.iaea.org)
- ^ regional air pollution (emep.int)
- ^ borrowed this idea (www.ipcc.ch)
- ^ IPCC (www.ipcc.ch)
- ^ precautionary manner (sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu)
- ^ Chemical Weapons Convention (www.opcw.org)
- ^ challenge inspections (www.opcw.org)