|
 The WHO and director-general Margaret Chan have come under fire for
their slow response to West Africa's Ebola epidemic, which began in
Guinea in December 2013 but was not declared an international public
health emergency until August 2014.
"I do not ever again want to see this organization faced with a
situation it is not prepared, staffed, funded, or administratively
set up to manage," Chan told health ministers on Monday at the start
of the WHO's annual nine-day assembly.
"I plan to complete these changes by the end of the year."
Chan, a former health director of Hong Kong at the helm of the WHO
since Jan. 2007, said that WHO had been "overwhelmed" by the Ebola
epidemic that has killed more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia
and Sierra Leone.
Asked later by a reporter whether she had considered resigning or
had been asked to, she replied: "The answer is no. Nobody ever asked
me. The buck stops with me. As a responsible leader you need to
learn lessons and make the right changes."
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the WHO's 194 member
states that the organization must streamline management to respond
quickly to crises like the "Ebola catastrophe".
"We ought to have reacted far earlier," she said.
"I am convinced that if we act faster and have a clear command
structure in place, we will be better equipped to combat a crisis
like Ebola next time that happens," Merkel said.
[to top of second column] |
"The WHO is the only international organization that has universal
political legitimacy on global health issues. This is why it is so
important to render its structures more efficient."
Guinea has seen a spate of new Ebola cases due to transmissions at
funerals, a worrying sign as it seeks to stamp out the epidemic, a
health official said on Friday. [ID:nL5N0Y63JH]
Liberia became the first of the three hardest-hit countries to be
declared free of the virus this month, completing a 42-day period
without a case.
Guinea and Sierra Leone reported 9 confirmed cases in the week to 10
May, the lowest weekly total this year, WHO says.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
