After
Ebola, WHO to set up contingency fund, develop 'surge capacity'
Send a link to a friend
[January 26, 2015] By
Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health
Organization (WHO) said on Sunday it will create a contingency fund and
an emergency workforce to respond quickly to crises after strong
criticism of the agency's delay in confronting the Ebola epidemic.
|
Director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said at an emergency meeting
called to discuss the agency's Ebola response that the outbreak
showed the need to strengthen WHO's crisis management and to
streamline procedures for recruiting frontline workers.
Ebola has been "a mega crisis and it overwhelmed the capacity of
WHO", she told a news briefing. "Member states truly understand that
the world does need a collective defence mechanism for global health
security."
In the past year, 21,724 Ebola cases have been reported in nine
countries and 8,641 people have died, according to the WHO, which
says West Africa's outbreak is ebbing.
A resolution seeking major reforms, brought by the United States and
South Africa, was adopted by consensus at the meeting of the
34-member executive board.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/26/images/ads/current/edward_jones_sda_pollice.png)
"The WHO we have is not the WHO we need, not the WHO we needed to
respond to health emergencies of the magnitude of Ebola," Tom
Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
told the talks.
In the debate, he said that political considerations often overruled
technical expertise at the United Nations agency.
"We have given some structure to what we expect in May, which is
far-reaching reforms," said Frieden, referring to the WHO's annual
meeting of health ministers in May.
Major donors welcomed agreement on the emergency fund, which a WHO
committee had recommended in 2011 should contain $100 million after
the 2009-2010 influenza pandemic. Chan told reporters that the
figure was "a good starting point".
Bruce Aylward, WHO assistant director-general in charge of the Ebola
response, said the agency would need about a workforce of about
1,500 for such emergencies, up from 1,000 currently.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/Symphony_122313.png)
"What you see here is the potential for some of the most
wide-ranging and sweeping reforms in any area of WHO that we've seen
almost since the organisation was established," he said.
Dr. Dirk Cuypers of Belgium's health service said on behalf of the
European Union: "We need to ensure that a clear line of command for
all levels of the organisation is in place for emergency operations
and we need a global work force ready to be deployed in a effective
and timely manner."
Ebola cases are declining in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Chan
said. "But we must maintain the momentum and guard against
complacency and donor fatigue."
(Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Stephen Powell and Michael Urquhart)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/26/images/ads/current/business_directory_filler.png)
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jan/26/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png) |