On the Work of the World Health Organization
WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in virtual
conference on national COVID-19 strategy for Pakistan, April 23, 2020.
Transitioning to Next Stage of Measures as
Countries Strive to Reopen
Countries in various regions of the world are
considering reducing physical distancing and lockdown
measures. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of
the World Health Organization (WHO), on April 19 urged that the
reopening of societies and economies be a phased process, and that this
is not the end of the epidemic but the next stage of dealing with the
situation, where emphasis must be placed on educating, engaging and
empowering the people to prevent and respond rapidly to any resurgence.
It is also crucial, he pointed out, that at this time, countries build
up their capacity to "detect, test, isolate and care for every case,
and trace every contact; and to ensure their health systems have the
capacity to absorb any increase in cases."
During his April 22 media briefing, Dr. Tedros
continued to be circumspect about the situation, urging caution: "Make
no mistake: we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a
long time. There's no question that stay-at-home orders and other
physical distancing measures have successfully suppressed transmission
in many countries. But this virus remains extremely dangerous. Early
evidence suggests most of the world's population remains susceptible.
That means epidemics can easily re-ignite.
"One of the greatest dangers we face now is
complacency. People in countries with stay-at-home orders are
understandably frustrated with being confined to their homes for weeks
on end. People understandably want to get on with their lives, because
their lives and livelihoods are at stake. That's what WHO wants too.
And that's what we are working for, all day, every day. But the world
will not and cannot go back to the way things were.
"There must be a 'new normal' -- a world that is
healthier, safer and better prepared. The same public health measures
we have been advocating since the beginning of the pandemic must remain
the backbone of the response in all countries."
One of the terrible features of this pandemic is
precisely complacency by governments that did not take the lesson from
the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic to be prepared with the necessary equipment
and procedures to be able to act quickly to protect populations and
frontline health care workers, with the active participation of health
care workers in making those preparations. In countries such as Canada,
where neo-liberal governments have instead weakened health care systems
with cuts and privatization, the question facing working people is
precisely how to ensure that they are empowered to change the situation
so that the situation does not return to "business as usual" after the
pandemic.
WHO Efforts to Strengthen and Worldwide Capacity
for Testing, Access to Protective Equipment and Therapeutics
To ensure that all countries are able to fulfill
the guidelines it has outlined to test all suspected cases, the WHO "is
providing technical, scientific and financial support for the rollout
of sero-epidemiologic surveys across the world," Dr. Tedros informed on
April 20. He explained that "Early data from some of these studies
suggest that a relatively small percentage of the population may have
been infected, even in heavily affected areas -- not more than two to
three per cent. While antibody tests are important for knowing who has
been infected, tests that find the virus are a core tool for active
case finding, diagnosis, isolation and treatment."
He further explained that the WHO is working with
other organizations "to identify and validate five tests that can be
manufactured in large quantities. Working together with the Global
Fund, UNICEF and Unitaid, we have now placed orders for 30 million
tests over the next four months. The first shipments of these tests
will begin next week, through the United Nations Supply Chain we have
established with the World Food Programme and other partners."
Regarding research into vaccines and their
eventual distribution to all countries, Dr. Tedros on April 24 stated:
"Since January, WHO has been working with
thousands of researchers all over the world to accelerate and track
vaccine development -- from developing animal models to clinical trial
designs, and everything in between. We've also developed diagnostics
that are being used all over the world; and we're coordinating a global
trial on the safety and efficacy of four therapeutics against COVID-19.
[...] Past experience has taught us that even when tools are available,
they have not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to
happen.
"Today, WHO is proud to be uniting with many
partners to launch the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, or the ACT
Accelerator. This is a landmark collaboration to accelerate the
development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines,
diagnostics, and therapeutics for COVID-19. Our shared commitment is to
ensure all people have access to
all the tools to
defeat COVID-19. The ACT Accelerator brings together the combined power
of several organizations to work with speed and scale. Each of us are
doing great work, but we cannot work alone."
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 14 - April 25, 2020
Article Link:
On the Work of the World Health Organization
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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