the big story

A big question mark over WHO

The TLDR: The World Health Organisation is increasingly under fire for its handling of the pandemic. From the very outset, a number of its policy recommendations have been wildly off the mark—some made more questionable due its perceived ‘soft on China’ approach. Now, the US has withdrawn its funding, and many countries are ignoring its advice. We look at why and how WHO lost the plot—just when we needed it most.

Who is the WHO

The United Nations agency was founded in 1948. It is broadly in charge of global public health and was created with a lofty goal: “the attainment by all people of the highest possible levels of health.” Its biggest success story: the coordination of a worldwide campaign to eliminate smallpox.

But until 2003, WHO enabled policy coordination and cooperation among different countries. It took on a more aggressive role—of telling governments what to do—during the SARS outbreak. And that role has remained controversial ever since. It has been accused of both over-reacting and under-reacting to potential threats. That resentment has now boiled over thanks to the pandemic.

A series of blunders

The organisation misread the coronavirus from the very beginning, and its performance has gone downhill from there.

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