There will indeed be an “independent evaluation” carried out by the management of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the commitment contained in the declaration adopted on Tuesday 19 May by the World Health Assembly, including the United States and China.
WHO under fire from US critics
The UN organisation and its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, are accused by the United States of being too accommodating towards China, which was the first country to be infected by the virus. U.S. President Donald Trump criticised them for ignoring Taiwan's warnings and reports of the emergence of the virus, which he said came out in December. He announced his intention to freeze U.S. funding to the WHO indefinitely if the organisation does not commit to implementing “significant improvements” within 30 days.
Both the European Union and Russia have responded by providing support to the organisation. “Strengthening multilateralism is now more important than ever”, said High Representative Josep Borell and Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. “The resolution stresses the importance of responding to this crisis through solidarity and multilateral cooperation under the aegis of the United Nations. We commend the WHO for its leading role in guiding the response to this crisis”, they continued, adding that the declaration adopted by the 73rd World Health Assembly includes actions "for each and every one of us”.
An independent evaluation
The resolution, approved by consensus and remotely by the 194 member countries, calls for the “earliest possible (...) initiation of an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation process” of the international response to the pandemic, coordinated by the WHO, with a view to “improving global capacity to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics”. This evaluation should examine in detail “the WHO’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its timing”.
Anticipating this action, the director-general himself had announced an independent investigation. But he added that the world did not need “a new committee”, but rather to implement existing mechanisms.
The resolution also addresses the sensitive issue of future treatments and vaccines. It emphasised that these products should be made available to everyone at an affordable price and made reference to “voluntary pooling of patents and voluntary patent licensing”.
See the resolution: https://bit.ly/2yfYftI (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)