Since the World Health Organisation (WHO) was notified of the appearance of a novel coronavirus on 31 December 2019, it has worked hard to bring the dangers of what we now know as COVID-19 to world attention and to urge action by all countries to stop transmission. Most countries recognise that WHO has done its best in difficult circumstances, but some have attacked it.

I have joined with a number of colleagues on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare in a statement of support for the vital role of WHO in global health, including in fighting the current pandemic. We are releasing it today as the World Health Assembly holds its annual meeting virtually, hosted by WHO in Geneva. The statement is below:

Statement of Support for the World Health Organization from the Members of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare – 2020

We, undersigned members of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare, a diverse group of leaders from the private, public, academic and non-profit sectors, express our strong support for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is an essential and unique resource for protecting and improving the health of all people. We cannot do without it.

 While we acknowledge that the recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted some inherent weaknesses of the WHO in the operational response to such a threat, we are deeply disturbed by recent attacks on the competence and integrity of the WHO and by calls for cuts in funding, especially in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, we need the WHO as the “directing and coordinating authority on international health,” fully supported to carry out its mission to “keep the world safe.”

The SARS-CoV-2 virus crosses all borders, irrespective of geographical, economic, cultural, language or political differences, and so, too, must our cooperative effort to stop it.  The WHO provides essential resources and expertise to coordinate knowledge being generated on the virus, to foster the equitable distribution of essential protective equipment, medication and diagnostics, and to help inform the eventual global processes of re-opening economies and society. We believe that controlling and ending this pandemic requires a thoroughly multilateral approach, recognizing and utilizing the power of coordinated, collective action among nations to achieve far more together than they could ever achieve separately. Now, more than ever, we need the WHO to continue to uphold the highest level of professionalism and guide nations, communities, and clinicians with the best available science, evidence and technical expertise. A retreat to the confines of nationalism, xenophobia and fear will serve only to increase the tragic toll of the pandemic. We need to reaffirm our commitment to a global community; we need to stand and confront this virus together, with the WHO as a crucial, shared asset.

We members of the Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare call on governments, industry, religious organizations, non-profits, communities, and all global citizens to support the WHO vigorously, vocally, and generously. Nations, assembled, wisely created the WHO to help protect and advance the health of our world.  Together we must assure that the WHO has the resources, tools, and political support to get that job done for us all.

Signed by:

Nicola Bedlington, Former Secretary General, European Patients’ Forum.

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, KBE, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Boston, MA.

Rt Hon Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999 – 2008), Co-Chair, Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare, World Economic Forum.

David B. Duong, MD, MPH, Director, Program in Global Primary Care and Social Change, Harvard Medical School.

Pascal Frӧhlicher, Primary Care Innovation Scholar, Harvard Medical School.

Helena Legido-Quigley, PhD, Associate Professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Paul Murray, Head of Life and Health Products, Swiss Re.

Lucas Scherdel, Lead, Global Coalition Value in Healthcare, World Economic Forum.

Wang Ninie Yan, MBA, INSEAD; DrPH student, Tsinghua University – Johns Hopkins University; Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pinetree Care Group.

Sarah Ziegler, PhD, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich.