World ‘woefully unprepared’ for next health crisis, says WHO-backed report
A top-level inquiry has concluded that the world was still “woefully unprepared” for any health emergency, with “neither the capacity to end the current pandemic in the near future nor to prevent the next one”.
A report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, co-convened by the World Health Organization and World Bank, concluded there was “scant evidence” that the right lessons were being learnt from the coronavirus crisis, despite the deaths of nearly 5m people worldwide.
Elhadj As Sy, the board’s co-chair, said that while scientific advances such as vaccine development were a cause for pride, “we must feel deep shame over multiple tragedies — vaccine hoarding, the devastating oxygen shortages in low-income countries, the generation of children deprived of education, the shattering of fragile economies and health systems”.
The former head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies continued: “If we do not change course — even with the results of our failings staring us squarely in the face — we will have squandered a rare and fleeting opportunity to implement the transformative changes needed.”
The report released on Tuesday blamed “geopolitical divisions” and a tendency for power brokers to negotiate behind closed doors without the involvement of those most affected.
Inadequacies started “at the top”, it said, with the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, World Health Assembly, G7 leaders and G20 leader all meeting over the past year “with little to show for it other than declarations of intent, and limited evidence they had a significant impact on the trajectory of the pandemic”.
In “the most glaring example of dysfunction”, division and competition among countries had increased the gap in vaccination levels between wealthy and poorer countries, which in turn contributed to the emergence of new variants. About 63 per cent of residents of high-income countries had received at least one vaccine dose but only 4.5 per cent in low-income countries, the board said.
Suggesting some were still failing to grasp how interconnected the world is, the board highlighted how richer countries continued to offer donations of vaccines and other much-needed equipment rather than supporting manufacturing capabilities, technology transfers and fairer intellectual property provisions to help the poor world.
Among a series of recommendations, the board urged the creation of a stronger WHO “with greater resources, authority, and accountability”. It was “the only organisation with the mandate and legitimacy to lead global health emergency preparedness and response” but lacked the resources and authority to fulfil this function.
To help countries become more resilient to future pandemics, a collective financing mechanism should be established within the World Bank, it also said. Estimates suggested at least $10bn in seed funding would be needed, and annual contributions not only from countries but the private sector, to ensure that sum was raised each year.
The WHO and other international bodies should also develop a “real-time surveillance platform with mechanisms for sharing data and [biological] samples”, to address “major gaps in the world’s surveillance and response capacities”, as well as in its ability to produce, manufacture and deploy necessary medicines and equipment, the board said.