The World Health Organization should be given the power and independence it needs to report the facts about global health threats without being influenced by its member states, says New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark. "I think all member states need to reflect on how they support the WHO to do its job, as the WHO is always having to look over [its] shoulder to think what all powerful member states think." "The Panel believes that the international system for alert and response has the trappings of an analog system in a digital age." "I think also people saw Ebola largely confined to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in West Africa. Clark said the days are gone when a highly contagious virus would remain in one region of the world and countries need to recognize that reality.

Source: CBC News February 25, 2021 00:00 UTC