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REUTERS by Tom MIles April 19, 2015
GENEVA--The World Health Organization has admitted serious failings in its handling of the Ebola crisis and pledged reforms to enable it to do better next time, its leadership said in a statement seen by Reuters on Sunday.
"We have learned lessons of humility. We have seen that old diseases in new contexts consistently spring new surprises," said the statement, attributed to the WHO Director-General Margaret Chan and the deputy director-general and regional directors.
"We have taken serious note of the criticisms of the Organization that, inter alia, the initial WHO response was slow and insufficient, we were not aggressive in alerting the world ... we did not work effectively in coordination with other partners, there were shortcomings in risk communications and there was confusion of roles and responsibilities...," it said.
The statement listed eight lessons learned, including areas where the WHO's response to Ebola could have been better, such as information sharing and communication....
Read complete story.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/19/us-health-ebola-who-idUSKBN0NA12J20150419
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TEXT of WHO leadership statement on its problems and reforms
WHO April 16, 2015
GENEVA
Excerpt from text of WHO statement:
"The Ebola outbreak that started in December 2013 became a public health, humanitarian and socioeconomic crisis with a devastating impact on families, communities and affected countries. It also served as a reminder that the world, including WHO, is ill-prepared for a large and sustained disease outbreak.
"We, the Director-General, Deputy Director-General, and Regional Directors of WHO, are making this commitment of collective leadership to Member States and their peoples in line with recommendations made by the Special Session of the Executive Board on Ebola held in January 2015. We have taken note of the constructive criticisms of WHO’s performance and the lessons learned to ensure that WHO plays its rightful place in disease outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies and in global health security...
See full statement.
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/joint-statement-ebola/en/
WHO promises reforms (but waters down initial statement)
Revised statement however deletes some earlier mea culpas.
NEW YORK TIMES by Sheri Fink April 21, 2015
After criticism that it was slow and ineffective in the crucial early months of the Ebola crisis, the World Health Organization said Monday that it would overhaul the way it deals with epidemics....
"...We commit to expanding our core staff working on diseases with outbreak potential and health emergencies, so we will have skilled staff always available,” the statement said. A new reserve force of certified staff members will be created to tackle crises, the statement said, making use of a new outbreak contingency fund and a new system for managing the organization’s efforts in the field.
....The first version of the statement released to reporters on Monday included a response to those proposals. “Some have said the world needs a new organization to be created,” it said. “We agree, and we want W.H.O. to be that organization.”
An hour later, though, that version was replaced with a “correct” version that omitted those sentences, without explanation.
Also missing from the final version was perhaps the most acute recognition of the W.H.O.’s failings: “We have learned lessons of humility,” the earlier draft had said.
Read complete story.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/21/world/africa/who-promises-reform-after-criticism-over-ebola-response.html