I have been lambasted on TWO by some in the past for criticising the WHO. Well here is the respected commentator Ed Conway in the Times, shredding its response to the outbreak:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/virus-has-exposed-the-weakness-of-who-5t7h089nc
"...
(WHO)
had neglected its core mission: to be an institution of last resort in a crisis no single country can fight.
The result was that in the early weeks of the crisis the WHO was too slow to declare a public health emergency. For all the good work being done by its officials, it has become clear that the institution desperately lacks influence. It is terrified of speaking truth to power. It is so strapped, so reliant on funding from big countries, that it cannot bear to call out the US for the speed of its response or China for its faults in the early weeks of the disease.
The WHO could and should be the ultimate authority and the ultimate resource for health security, yet much like the IMF in the early days of the (credit crunch) crisis, it needs beefing up. Perhaps that means more money. Perhaps it means creating a new independent body which could fight pandemics without fear of closure if it said something awkward to a superpower. Whatever the solution, this, like 2008, is a moment for world leaders to reinforce global institutions.
..."
Ed Conway is economics editor of Sky News
Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum