Experts say that WHO and global leaders could have avoided Kovic’s disaster

According to a severe report on the response of world leaders and the World Health Organization to the epidemic, rapid and internationally cooperative response measures may have prevented the Covid-19 outbreak that occurred in China in 2019 from becoming a global disaster in 2020.

expert review Independent Pandemic Preparedness and Response TeamCommissioned by the World Health Organization, it provided lessons for preventing future pandemics and put forward dozens of reform proposals.

These include the establishment of a new treaty for the Global Health Threat Council, giving WHO more oversight power to investigate and disseminate information about disease outbreaks without government approval, and providing support to the International Pandemic Financing Agency (IPFF) With new funding, the agency may spend US$5 billion to US$10 billion a year in preparations, and convene US$50 billion to US$100 billion in a short period of time in an emergency.

“The expert group recommends a fundamental change to ensure the highest commitment to the new system… Its co-chairs, former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Liberia Eliber Johnson Sirleaf (Eliber Johnson Sirleaf) ) Said the former chairman.

[February 2020 was] This is a lost month, and many other countries could have taken steps to contain the spread of Sars-Cov-2 and prevent all countries from taking action. . .disaster

This review does not study the origin of Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. But it criticized the Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization for being too slow to realize that the virus was spreading from person to person in Wuhan, and then warned the world about the spread of the virus from person to person.

The report said: “From the future, preventive measures should be used from the beginning, because unless there are other circumstances, respiratory diseases may spread from person to person.”

The team spoke of the only legally binding instrument concerning disease outbreaks, the International Health Regulations sc. “According to the current construction [they] Helps to limit rather than promote prompt action. “The report said. “As far as travel is concerned, it is difficult to see that the restrictions of the International Health Regulations are realistic for the epidemic in our highly interconnected era. “

Clark said at a press conference before the comment: “If travel restrictions are implemented faster and more extensively, it will seriously hinder the rapid spread of the virus.” “We must realize that we live in the 21st century, not the Middle Ages. “

The expert group criticized the WHO for not declaring Covid as a public health emergency of international concern until January 30. March 11 was officially called a pandemic.

However, the strongest criticism is directed at the rich countries of Europe and North America, who “waste February 2020” for inaction, resulting in “losing a month, more countries could have taken measures to curb the spread of Sars-Cov-2.” And prevent global health, social and economic disasters from continuing.”

Clark said that when the severity of the crisis was finally acknowledged in March 2020, there was a “crazy competition for PPE, therapy and other equipment”. “The situation is more complicated due to the lack of global leadership.”

In order to play a leading role in the future, the group calls on heads of governments around the world to establish a global health threat council and a pandemic framework convention to provide a more solid legal basis for action. It recommends that these meetings be launched at the global summit, and the UN summit should be held later this year, which is a special session of the UN General Assembly.

The council will allocate funds from the IPFF to develop preparedness and response capabilities, including a global platform that can “provide vaccines, diagnostics, medicines and materials quickly and fairly on a global scale, transforming from a market model to A model designed to provide global public goods”. The panel of experts said that in the event of another pandemic, the fund should be prepared to disburse up to US$100 billion in a short period of time.

The review also called for strengthening the authority and funding of the WHO. This will involve increasing the fees paid by member states; “politicizing recruitment (especially for senior positions) by following merit standards and related capabilities”; improving the performance of the board of directors (the expert group said that it failed to perform its duties during the pandemic) , And appointed a Director-General for a seven-year term instead of the current five-year term.

The team members are talking with the head of government to ensure that the measures are implemented. Sirleaf said: “The storage shelves of the United Nations and national capitals are full of reports and comments on previous health crises.” “If we listened to their warnings, we could have avoided the disaster we face today. This time it must be different. “