GENEVA • The oversight body of the World Health Organisation has said that the WHO had "demonstrated leadership" in handling the coronavirus pandemic and that its performance should be reviewed, but "not during the heat of the response", which could prove disruptive.
The independent panel, in its first report on the WHO's handling of the pandemic, covering the period from January to last month, yesterday suggested reforms to the body, including introducing a "stepped level of alerts" before declaring an international emergency so as to get early attention from states.
It also suggested the 194 member states review the size and surge capacity of the WHO's emergencies programme, saying its annual budget of less than US$300 million (S$426 million) was "too modest".
"An imperfect and evolving understanding is not unusual during the early phase of a novel disease emergence. Many uncertainties still remain about Covid-19," said the seven-member panel.
It warned that "rising politicisation of pandemic response" is impeding defeat of the virus, adding: "WHO cannot succeed without unified global political support."
Revealing details of the WHO's second funding appeal, the oversight panel said the body would need an estimated US$1.7 billion by the year end, leaving it with a "funding gap" of about US$1.3 billion.
Yesterday, the WHO said an independent review of the global coronavirus response would begin as soon as possible.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made his promise during a virtual meeting of the WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged US$2 billion over the next two years to help deal with Covid-19, especially in developing countries.
The amount is roughly equivalent to the WHO's entire annual programme budget for last year, and more than compensates for United States President Donald Trump's freeze in US payments that had been worth about US$400 million a year. The oversight panel, which estimated that the WHO would need US$1.7 billion by the year end, did not appear to have taken into account China's pledge.
Mr Trump has fiercely questioned the WHO's performance during the pandemic, withdrawing US funding after accusing it of being too China-centric.
Dr Tedros, who has always promised a post-pandemic review, said it would come "at the earliest appropriate moment".
"Every country and every organisation must examine its response and learn from its experience," he said, adding that the review must cover "all actors in good faith". He received robust backing from the WHO's independent oversight panel.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, in a joint video conference yesterday, agreed to back a plan for a €500 billion (S$774 billion) recovery fund to help the European Union - hit hard by the coronavirus crisis - weather its worst recession in living memory.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
