Read on Twitter
I’ve worked with @WHO many times and have no doubt they bent to China.
But this isn’t remarkable, and it isn’t because China is a giant. Worse, it is because WHO is cowardly and ALWAYS bend to member states, even tiny ones. (Thread). https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-whos-early-coronavirus-response-raises-awkward-questions-about/
But this isn’t remarkable, and it isn’t because China is a giant. Worse, it is because WHO is cowardly and ALWAYS bend to member states, even tiny ones. (Thread). https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-whos-early-coronavirus-response-raises-awkward-questions-about/
During the 2015 Ebola crisis, WHO bent to Guinea, one of the smallest, poorest countries anywhere (not like China). They dithered on declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Maria Cheng and Raphael Satter’s story is classic. https://globalnews.ca/news/1893451/emails-un-health-agency-resisted-declaring-ebola-emergency/
The person at WHO in charge of Ebola during the cover-up was a Canadian, Bruce Aylward. He is THE SAME PERSON who WHO sent to China for COVID-19, and who praised China despite its attempts to cover-up. (More) https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/health/coronavirus-china-aylward.amp.html
In my dealings with him, Aylward is untrustworthy, and will deceive for WHO’s purposes. Just days ago, he hung up on a reporter who asked him a question about Taiwan, and faked not hearing the question. Watch the video, because it’s shocking. https://twitter.com/studioincendo/status/1243909358133473285?s=20 https://twitter.com/studioincendo/status/1243909358133473285
But I don’t mean to scapegoat Aylward, dishonest as he is. The real problem is @WHO, which is captive to its member states. It almost never utters a statement or discloses information that a state wants censored. Let’s talk about India.
India for years had a hidden HIV/AIDS epidemic. Hidden, because they fudged their stats. WHO knew this, but rather than publishing real stats, it published the stats India gave it, knowing they were false. I complained, naively, but nothing changed.
And WHO will almost never offend donors. I fought a famous fight in the Lancet against WHO over negligent advice on malaria treatment that killed kids. WHO knew the advice was bad, but pushed it because the USA liked it and funded its malaria program. https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(03)15330-5/fulltext
Beating WHO that time is the proudest achievement of my life, because it saved hundreds of thousands of kids dying needlessly from malaria. But it did not, of course, make me popular in Geneva and my work with WHO eventually declined.
No regrets! But I still watch WHO closely, and they lie about silly things. Like they time they said UN headquarters in Geneva lacked the facilities to webcast a WHO meeting. (The Web was invented in Geneva, and a smartphone will do.) https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/health/who-may-begin-webcast-of-health-minister-meeting.amp.html
So do I trust WHO? Not much. They do some great work, so you can’t dismiss them entirely. But they also cover-up a lot for political reasons pushed by member states—not just China.
Basically WHO are cowards. But pandemics need bravery, as we are learning. It’s a problem. (End)
Basically WHO are cowards. But pandemics need bravery, as we are learning. It’s a problem. (End)
