WHO May Lose Credibility After Ebola

Agency seeks a new model after flaws revealed by Ebola crisis.

COMMENTARY MEDPAGE TODAY by Michael Smith            Feb. 15, 2015 

As the Ebola epidemic drags on, the World Health Organization is in danger of losing its credibility as a bulwark against infectious disease.

The West African epidemic is a "mega-crisis (that) overwhelmed the capacity of WHO," according to Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, speaking to reporters in late January.

To prevent a similar crisis in the future, Chan has proposed a package of reforms, including a large contingency fund for emergencies, an increase in the number of trained people able to deploy quickly to a crisis site, and structural changes to streamline the famously unwieldy organization.

Whether those get anywhere is the vital question, according to Lawrence Gostin, JD, of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Washington's Georgetown University.

Gostin was a member of a reform advisory committee Chan set up early in her term in office, but none of the recommendations from that committee went anywhere, he said -- either watered down internally or not accepted by the member states.

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http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/Ebola/50036