Should the corporate sector be allowed to engage in negotiations around the new binding instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response that is being developed by World Health Organization member states? This week’s closed-door debate by WHO member states to decide who should get a seat around the table risks opening a Pandora’s box of […] Continue reading ->
The redacted WHO report on Italy’s pandemic response, “An Unprecedented Challenge” contained a brief timeline of events in the early days of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in China, which a number of WHO officials sought to amend or suppress even before the entire report was recalled. In fact, the so-called “China box” on the outbreak’s early […] Continue reading ->
Second in a series: In the wake of the expanding media attention to a suppressed WHO report evaluating the early days of Italy’s COVID-19 pandemic response, WHO has begun circulating guidelines to staff for responding to the media over questions that have remarked about recommendations for Q&A The internal WHO memo obtained by Health Policy […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s suppression of an independent report that critically examined both the strengths and weaknesses of Italy’s COVID-19 pandemic response – sets a dangerous precedent that compromises the international organization’s credibility at a time when WHO’s independence has been questioned – and the Italian national pandemic response is under intense scrutiny as well, […] Continue reading ->
No illusion. COVID-19 is closer to us than we may imagine. And getting closer day by day. Around the world, in big cities and small centres alike, people are heading deeper into a sort of dystopian fiction, as if empty streets, latex gloves, face masks and self isolation were the new normal. Some 1.3 billion […] Continue reading ->