• UGI USER
  • Jul 27, 2023
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Q. The evolving global situation around Covid-19 simultaneously highlights the relevance of the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as its existing lacunae. Discuss.

Approach:

  • Briefly write about the evolving global health crisis and the WHO.
  • Bring out the significance of WHO through steps taken by it during the recent pandemic. Mention the lacunae in WHO highlighted by the pandemic.
  • Conclude by suggesting a way forward.

Answer:

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic required proactive response from the WHO which is  responsible for directing and coordinating international public health issues. In the contemporary  scenario the relevance of WHO was visible in:

  • Declaration of Public Health Emergency of International Concern or Pandemic: It serves as a central coordinating body for a unified and timely international response by providing  accurate information, busting dangerous myths, declaring health emergencies etc.
  • Strategic preparedness and response plan: Helping countries to prepare and respond to global health emergencies by issuing guidelines that countries need to take and the resources  needed to carry them out.
  • Speeding up Research and Development: To assess the development of the most promising vaccine candidates or for their clinical trial worldwide, a multinational coalition of vaccine  scientists is formed such as ‘Solidarity Trial’ for vaccines by WHO.
  • Ensuring vital supplies: To accelerate the development, production and availability of tests, treatments and vaccines, WHO brought governments, scientists, civil society, businesses and  health organisations together by their Access to Covid 19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator program.
  • Helping poor and vulnerable countries at risk: It is working towards equitable access to vaccines and creating specialised funds e.g. ‘COVID 19 Solidarity Response Fund’ to help out  countries especially those with weak health systems.

However, the existing crisis has also exposed serious structural constraints and weaknesses in  WHO, such as:

Due to limited funding and lack of ability to direct an international response to life  threatening pandemic, the body has to be dependent on influential member states such as  the USA and China.

  • It only has recommendatory powers and does not have the ability to bind and sanction its
  • Poorly coordinated structure due to which the body was slow to publicly recognize the scale of the threat posed by the outbreak in China and failed to warn the world on time, so that  effective policies could be deployed across countries.

Going beyond the differences in approach, WHO members should seize the opportunity presented  by the current health crisis. There is a need to rethink the underpinnings of the broader global  governance architecture. Further, issues like donor dependency and weakened capacity should be  addressed on priority basis.