Look WHO’s talking now

AT A TIME when a microscopic virus has brought humanity to its knees, to the extent that we must now question assumptions about our future, you would expect leaders to rally behind a body like the World Health Organisation (WHO). It’s only natural to assume a threat as wily as this one requires cross-border collaboration, standardisation, data-sharing, and compliance. Yet, at precisely the moment it is needed most, the WHO has come under attack from figures like Donald Trump.

As an organisation, the WHO is not perfect. There are questions to be asked about its approach to covid19. Some believe the organisation risked its credibility by currying favour with China in its bid to gain access to that country’s data. Others have pointed to a lack of teeth when it comes to enforcement of its measures. When written, the history of covid19 will inevitably involve assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the WHO’s operations. Even so, it falls ill in the mouth of Trump to attack the organisation and threaten its funding.

“They called it wrong,” Trump said this week. “They missed the call. They could’ve called it months earlier.” He could have been describing his own covid19 modus operandi. Flippant dismissals, untested claims about medicines, over-optimistic timelines soon gave way to political grandstanding (trumpeting his call for a wall) then, as markets tumbled, a blame game in which the real enemy was not the disease but rather political opponents, the media, and the WHO, which he described as “China-centric.”

China has a lot to answer for. But in a world where hostilities between the West and East (stoked by Trump himself) may have played a role in China’s reluctance to appear vulnerable yet again in its history, such politicising can only be counter-productive. Little wonder Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Ethiopian-born head of the WHO, was forced to issue a rejoinder.

“Please quarantine politicising covid,” Tedros said. “We will have many body bags in front of us if we don’t behave… The United States and China should come together and fight this dangerous enemy.”

We need only look at WHO’s own storied history for evidence of the effectiveness of putting aside national differences. It was the WHO that facilitated the elimination or decline of diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever. It was the WHO that contained Sars.

It was also the WHO that spawned the formation of many regional sub-organisations that have changed the public health landscape. These include bodies like PAHO and CARPHA, today playing key roles. Progress made in relation to HIV/Aids; the eradication of polio—feats unimaginable without such interventions.

It seems, given the baffling animus against Dr Tedros’ organisation, that it will take time, and tragically far more deaths, before we truly appreciate this.