WHO Chief Unveils Reforms After Ebola Response Criticized
WHO Chief Unveils Reforms After Ebola Response Criticized
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World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan addresses the media during a special meeting on Ebola at the WHO headquarters in Geneva on Jan. 25, 2015.Pierre Albouy—Reuters
The head of the UN’s global health agency has laid out a set of reforms to better and more quickly fight disease outbreaks, in a frank acknowledgement that the organization struggled to confront the scale of the 2014 Ebola outbreak that killed more than 8,600 people.
“This was West Africa’s first experience with the virus, and it delivered some horrific shocks and surprises,” said World Health Organization (WHO) director General Margaret Chan in a speech on Sunday. “The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us.”
The needed changes, she said, include country-specific emergency workforces trained with “military precision”; a strengthened team of epidemiologists for detecting disease and a network of other providers to allow responders to reach “surge capacity.”
PHOTOS: See How a Photographer is Covering Ebola’s Deadly Spread
Members of a Liberian Red Cross burial team, under contract from the Liberian Ministry of Health, remove the body of suspected Ebola victim Lorpu David, 30, on Sept. 18, 2014, in the Gurley street community in central Monrovia, Liberia.Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxMembers of a Liberian Red Cross burial team, remove the body of woman, 75, a suspected Ebola victim on Sept. 18, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxA burial team collects the body of a 75-year-old woman in a neighborhood called PHP in Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 18, 2014. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxA resident of the West Point neighborhood covers his nose as a burial team leaves with a body in Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 17, 2014. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxMembers of a burial team from the Liberian Red Cross remove the body of a man, a suspected Ebola victim, from a home in Matadi on Sept. 17, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.
Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxA member of a Liberian Red Cross burial team is disinfected, with chlorine sprayed on by a colleague, after having removed the body of a man, a suspected Ebola victim, on Sept. 6, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia.
Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/Reportage by Getty ImagesResidents look on as the body of a man suspected of dying from Ebola lies in a busy street after it was reportedly dragged there to draw the attention of burial teams. For several days, his family had asked for the body to be picked up, to no avail. Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 15, 2014. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxFriends and relatives weep as a burial team removes the body of a 75-year-old woman. Her neighbors insisted she had died of a stroke. Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 18, 2014.Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxEric Gweah, 25, grieves as he watches members of a Red Cross burial team carry the body his father, Ofori Gweah, 62, a suspected Ebola victim, in a riverside area called Rock Spring Valley in central Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 18, 2014. Ofori Gweah had endured Ebolaís telltale symptoms for six days, his family took him to treatment centers twice, only to be turned back. So many Ebola victims are dying at home due to a severe shortage of treatment centers in Monrovia, and many of the ill are infecting family members, neighbors and others in a ballooning circle of contagion. (Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times)Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxResidents discuss an Ebola awareness campaign in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 30, 2014. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxResidents of the West Point neighborhood attend church after a 10-day quarantine was lifted in Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 31, 2014. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxJames Dorbor, 8, suspected to have Ebola, lays on the ground as his father Edward tried to get the boy to drink coconut water. They waited for James to be admitted into the JFK Ebola treatment center on Sept. 5, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/Reportage by Getty ImagesEdward Dorbor reacts after believing that his son, James Dorbor, 8, had died. However, the boy survived for a few additional hours before dying at the JFK Ebola treatment center on Sept. 5, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/Reportage by Getty ImagesMedical staff rush into the treatment facility, carrying James Dorbor, 8, suspected of having Ebola. Since the health workers weren't wearing the appropriate protection against Ebola, they positioned James' body in a way to limit exposure to the deadly virus. Monrovia, Liberia, Sept. 5, 2014. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxA relative grieves as members of a Liberian Red Cross burial team dress themselves in full protective clothing prior to removing the body of suspected Ebola victim, Ofori Gweah, 62, on Sept. 18, 2014 in central Monrovia, Liberia.Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/ReduxMedical staff spray down a small plastic bag containing the blood sample of Hawa Konneh, 9, a suspected Ebola victim, as she lays on the dirt wrapped in a shawl in front of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Ebola treatment center, as her mother, Masogbe, sits near to her prior to Hawa's passing away on Sept. 4, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/Reportage by Getty ImagesMarvin Gweah, 28, is overcome by emotion as members of a Liberian Red Cross burial team carry away the body of his father, Ofori Gweah, 62, a suspected Ebola victim, on Sept. 18, 2014 in central Monrovia, Liberia. Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/Reportage by Getty Images
“The Ebola outbreak revealed some inadequacies and shortcomings in this organization’s administrative, managerial, and technical infrastructures,” she said, calling for a “dedicated contingency fund to support rapid responses to outbreaks and emergencies.”
The remarks came as the WHO’s executive board prepared to meet in Geneva to discuss reform proposals that many in the international community consider to be overdue. The response to Ebola by the UN’s health agency was seen by many as slow and ineffectual.
Indeed, Sunday’s speech did not mark the first time Chan acknowledged her organization’s shortcomings. In October, she told TIME that “the scale of the response did not match the scale of the outbreak.”
