WHO Board Agrees on Reforms to Fix Ebola Response Mistakes

GENEVA-- The World Health Organization’s board agreed to create a special fund to respond to such outbreaks as Ebola and to set up a global health emergency workforce after the organization acknowledged mis-steps in its response to the epidemic.

 The WHO’s executive board agreed “in principle” at a meeting in Geneva Sunday to a contingency fund, and asked Director General Margaret Chan to develop by May options on its size and sources. Chan should also take immediate steps to establish a public-health reserve workforce that can be promptly deployed in response to health emergencies, according to the resolution adopted by senior health officials from 34 countries.

The WHO was too slow to respond to the Ebola outbreak, which has led to the deaths of 8,675 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, Chan said in opening remarks to a special meeting of the board, only the third such gathering in the agency’s history. The epidemic highlights the need for “urgent change” at the United Nations agency, she said.

 Photographer: Alain Grosclaude/AFP via Getty Images World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan. The Ebola epidemic highlights the need for “urgent change” at the United Nations agency, Chan said in opening remarks to the board meeting

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-25/who-board-proposes-new-fund-and-workforce-to-avoid-ebola-repeat.html\

Also see earlier story: UN Mulls reforms...
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jan/25/who-mulls-reforms-to-repair-reputation-after/