UN

Why the World Health Organization’s Response to COVID-19 Is Crucial to the Future of Public Health

The coronavirus is a stress test for the U.N. agency trying to rehabilitate its image. It could also be a wakeup call for governments to invest in global efforts to mitigate the impact of future pandemics

By 

RYAN BORT

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a press briefing on COVID-19 at WHO headquarters in March.

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

It’s usually not a good sign for humanity when the World Health Organization is in the news. There may not be a better indicator of how 2020 is shaping up than the weeks-long flurry of headlines featuring the U.N. agency tasked with coordinating the global response to infectious disease outbreaks.

Since originating in China in December, the COVID-19 virus has infected more than 820,000 and killed over 40,000 around the world, as of Tuesday, while crippling the global economy. WHO has held regular briefings to share information about the outbreak and the best practices for how to respond to it. Though Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been criticized for his praise of China, he’s at times shown a willingness to call out bad behavior from other global superpowers, such as when he lamented the “level of stigma we are observing” in a not-so-subtle slight at the racist language President Trump has used to describe the virus. “There is a common enemy on this planet,” Tedros said in March. “We need to fight in unison.”