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The story
“The U.S. should reform the WHO, not leave it,” by Ashish Jha
The response
I share Ashish Jha’s hope that the U.S. will remain a WHO member state. However, his Jan. 19 First Opinion essay includes numerous inaccuracies, omissions, and misrepresentations.
In his opening, Jha makes a broad assertion that WHO “mismanaged” Covid-19, and the scant evidence he cites vastly oversimplifies complex scientific issues and completely overlooks the comprehensive multiyear response that WHO led. As a scientist, he knows that evidence evolves rapidly, especially in relation to a novel pathogen. Throughout the pandemic, WHO said what we knew and didn’t know at the time, based on the available evidence. Over time we updated our communications and guidance.
WHO is “quick to criticize the U.S.,” he says, providing no examples. We can’t find any, either. By the same token he says “WHO never really criticized China” when in fact we have called on China repeatedly to share information critical to understanding the origins of Covid-19.
Jha says WHO should focus on countries, yet he knows that WHO has already shifted its center of gravity to countries under Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as we have reported publicly and frequently. Increased financing, expertise, and authority sit in our more than 150 country offices.
WHO is what its 194 member states make it, including the U.S. It’s the member states that approve WHO’s strategy, budget, and program of work. Jha fails to acknowledge that all countries, including high-income countries, struggled to save lives during the pandemic, and continue to count on WHO for support with other health challenges within and outside their borders.
Jha writes that WHO should hold its member states accountable in pandemics. Sovereign governments are accountable not to U.N. agencies but to their people. In fact, WHO member states are implementing measures to keep each other accountable, including through the International Health Regulations and a Pandemic Agreement. The agreement is being negotiated by member states, for member states, and will be implemented by member states within their national laws.
“There is a need for an investigator general,” he writes. We are regularly evaluated our member states, and by multiple bodies, organizations, and panels independent of the secretariat.
We remain focused on the mandate of WHO to help the people we serve. That mission has never been clearer. Pathogens don’t respect borders.
Maria Van Kerkhove, Ph.D., is the interim director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Threat Management and the Covid-19 emergency manager and technical lead at the World Health Organization.