Role of World Health Organization in spread of Covid19
Role of World Health Organization in spread of Covid19
31 st December, 2019, is a day that will go down in history for centuries to come. It was on this day that China reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) country office that they had found a type of pneumonia that needed serious attention. The reason for drawing attention to this unknown pneumonia was because it was infectious in nature and it was causing serious health hazards among several citizens of China.
It was in February of 2020 that the World Health Organization (WHO) after very close analysis of this virus named it COVID–19. As per the initial reports from China, the outbreak of this new virus was tied to a sea food market in Wuhan, located in the Hubei province of China. After that the virus rapidly spread to different parts of China and then to different countries of the world. On 11th March, 2020, the WHO officially upgraded status of COVID-19 from a public health emergency of international concern to a pandemic. Sources say that the WHO, in its 72 years of existence, has rarely faced a global health crisis of such magnitude. This clearly explains the vulnerability, the well organised guardian of global health encountered.
This disease is said to have spread to more than 200 countries worldwide and has completely altered the lifestyle of everyone alike. It seems that the United Nations’ (UN) body of health management for the entire globe has failed miserably in protecting the masses at large from COVID-19. It is also alleged to be siding with the source country in trying to cover up the intensity with which this virus has affected the world.
The American President along with the political leaders of few other countries have raised their voices against this callous behaviour of the WHO. The American President, on 14 th April, 2020, took a step further by threatening to temporarily stop the funds which the U.S. provides to the agency. He demanded a thorough investigation on the WHO to affirm that it was doing everything within its ambit and not purposely mismanaging and trying to camouflage the spread of this deadly virus.
One of the regular consultants to the WHO has himself remarked that the WHO seems to be in a mood of not exercising its authority. The authority to create regulatory guidelines for the people, to direct and coordinate international health work, which is in the hands of WHO, appears to have failed miserably. However, the present Director-General of WHO, who is currently responsible for all the decisions taken by the organization, has a different story altogether. According to sources the agency is finding it extremely cumbersome to convince all 194 member states to follow the guidelines issued to the letter.
In fact, on the day the virus was declared a pandemic the authorities of the organization had voiced their worry about the non-compliance of some of the countries to the instructions issued. This has brought to limelight the inability of the World Health Organisation. Though the administrators of this organization have sworn to exercise their power with regard to the public health issues of the world, the truth of the matter is, they do not have much say in taking the decisions. In other words, the countries funding it seem to be controlling their functioning.
That is why perhaps, the director of the WHO collaborating Centre on National and Global Health Law has remarked that no one really knows where this is heading. The WHO is constantly being blamed for hiding facts and details of the worldwide disease in a bid to favour the originating country of the Covid-19.
However, one of the WHO’s emergency committee advisor has revealed that the Chinese doctors had already determined at their laboratory that the cause of the pneumonia like sickness was ‘corona virus’. However, they did not pass on the information to WHO till December 31 st , 2019. Moreover, the full genome report was handed over to WHO even later, i.e. on 12 th January 2020.
Another startling piece of information unknown to most of the people is the refusal of Chinese government to allow a team of scientists from WHO to investigate the case at the centre of the outbreak in the Hubei province in China. Following this, the Director-General of WHO held a confidential meeting with the Chinese President on 28 th January, post which he praised China for being able to contain the disease.
While the Director-General of WHO saw this as a strategy to keep China on the onside; this was surely a flaw in the eyes of the critics. It is no wonder that the WHO has come under the scanner and accused of being equally responsible for not being able to contain a pandemic of this magnitude. More than anything else, COVID-19 does seem to have given birth to a new blame game all around the globe while it continues to claim thousands of lives worldwide.
© Arked
31 st December, 2019, is a day that will go down in history for centuries to come. It was on this day that China reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) country office that they had found a type of pneumonia that needed serious attention. The reason for drawing attention to this unknown pneumonia was because it was infectious in nature and it was causing serious health hazards among several citizens of China.
It was in February of 2020 that the World Health Organization (WHO) after very close analysis of this virus named it COVID–19. As per the initial reports from China, the outbreak of this new virus was tied to a sea food market in Wuhan, located in the Hubei province of China. After that the virus rapidly spread to different parts of China and then to different countries of the world. On 11th March, 2020, the WHO officially upgraded status of COVID-19 from a public health emergency of international concern to a pandemic. Sources say that the WHO, in its 72 years of existence, has rarely faced a global health crisis of such magnitude. This clearly explains the vulnerability, the well organised guardian of global health encountered.
This disease is said to have spread to more than 200 countries worldwide and has completely altered the lifestyle of everyone alike. It seems that the United Nations’ (UN) body of health management for the entire globe has failed miserably in protecting the masses at large from COVID-19. It is also alleged to be siding with the source country in trying to cover up the intensity with which this virus has affected the world.
The American President along with the political leaders of few other countries have raised their voices against this callous behaviour of the WHO. The American President, on 14 th April, 2020, took a step further by threatening to temporarily stop the funds which the U.S. provides to the agency. He demanded a thorough investigation on the WHO to affirm that it was doing everything within its ambit and not purposely mismanaging and trying to camouflage the spread of this deadly virus.
One of the regular consultants to the WHO has himself remarked that the WHO seems to be in a mood of not exercising its authority. The authority to create regulatory guidelines for the people, to direct and coordinate international health work, which is in the hands of WHO, appears to have failed miserably. However, the present Director-General of WHO, who is currently responsible for all the decisions taken by the organization, has a different story altogether. According to sources the agency is finding it extremely cumbersome to convince all 194 member states to follow the guidelines issued to the letter.
In fact, on the day the virus was declared a pandemic the authorities of the organization had voiced their worry about the non-compliance of some of the countries to the instructions issued. This has brought to limelight the inability of the World Health Organisation. Though the administrators of this organization have sworn to exercise their power with regard to the public health issues of the world, the truth of the matter is, they do not have much say in taking the decisions. In other words, the countries funding it seem to be controlling their functioning.
That is why perhaps, the director of the WHO collaborating Centre on National and Global Health Law has remarked that no one really knows where this is heading. The WHO is constantly being blamed for hiding facts and details of the worldwide disease in a bid to favour the originating country of the Covid-19.
However, one of the WHO’s emergency committee advisor has revealed that the Chinese doctors had already determined at their laboratory that the cause of the pneumonia like sickness was ‘corona virus’. However, they did not pass on the information to WHO till December 31 st , 2019. Moreover, the full genome report was handed over to WHO even later, i.e. on 12 th January 2020.
Another startling piece of information unknown to most of the people is the refusal of Chinese government to allow a team of scientists from WHO to investigate the case at the centre of the outbreak in the Hubei province in China. Following this, the Director-General of WHO held a confidential meeting with the Chinese President on 28 th January, post which he praised China for being able to contain the disease.
While the Director-General of WHO saw this as a strategy to keep China on the onside; this was surely a flaw in the eyes of the critics. It is no wonder that the WHO has come under the scanner and accused of being equally responsible for not being able to contain a pandemic of this magnitude. More than anything else, COVID-19 does seem to have given birth to a new blame game all around the globe while it continues to claim thousands of lives worldwide.
© Arked