--- title: Report: WHO Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak description: A new report reveals the World Health Organization privately acknowledged it could have done more to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak. canonical: https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T14:30:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:29.011Z article:section: Health og:title: Report: WHO Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak og:description: A new report reveals the World Health Organization privately acknowledged it could have done more to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak. og:url: https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba6b38194084ba9/698761452dce01002b9dafdd/ebola-liberia-world-health-organization.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Report: WHO Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak twitter:description: A new report reveals the World Health Organization privately acknowledged it could have done more to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba6b38194084ba9/698761452dce01002b9dafdd/ebola-liberia-world-health-organization.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # WHO Acknowledges Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak ## Video: Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EJ3m56cA.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-10-02. Health officials in the US are using a method known as contact tracing, to see who is at risk from Ebola._ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 17, 2014 2:30 PM UTC  A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.John Moore—Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 17, 2014 2:30 PM UTC A new report reveals that the World Health Organization [privately acknowledged](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6fd22fbcca0c47318cb178596d57dc7a/un-we-botched-response-ebola-outbreak) it could have done more to contain the ongoing global Ebola outbreak, which has claimed the lives of around 4,500 people primarily in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. “Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall,” WHO said in a “draft internal document” obtained by the Associated Press. The WHO, the United Nations health agency, blamed in part the “politically motivated appointments” of Dr. Luis Sambo, the WHO regional director in Africa, according to the AP. WHO also points fingers at its Guinea office for failing to obtain visas for Ebola experts and for tying up $500,000 in aid in red tape. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan did not fully understand the agency’s leadership issues in West Africa until days after a June meeting of the agency’s top outbreak officials, according to the documents. “This (was) the first news of this sort to reach her,” reads one of the forms. “She is shocked.” \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6fd22fbcca0c47318cb178596d57dc7a/un-we-botched-response-ebola-outbreak)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/"},"headline":"WHO Acknowledges Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak","datePublished":"2014-10-17T14:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:29.011Z","description":"It blamed in part \"politically motivated appointments.\"","url":"https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/","keywords":["ebola"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba6b38194084ba9/698761452dce01002b9dafdd/ebola-liberia-world-health-organization.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba6b38194084ba9/698761452dce01002b9dafdd/ebola-liberia-world-health-organization.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.","caption":"A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.","creditText":"John Moore—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/","name":"WHO Acknowledges Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola","description":"Health officials in the US are using a method known as contact tracing, to see who is at risk from Ebola.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EJ3m56cA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-10-02T18:25:06.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EJ3m56cA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/","duration":"PT1M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```