Culpability of the WHO?

[Lencoboy]

It really astounds me that yesterday the WHO (World Health Organisation) proclaimed that they weren't even aware of that new mutation in Portugal that's believed to have originated from Nepal.

Likewise, they (the WHO) were just as culpable IMO during the onset of the pandemic back in December 2019-January 2020 in not only playing down the threat of Covid, but failed to insist in all international travel to and from China being curtailed until the original outbreak there in Wuhan had in itself died down.

Yes, many govts around the world have been rather hopeless at times during this pandemic (including our own), but I personally believe that the WHO were just as, if not moreso, culpable.

What does anyone think?

[Fishmanpa]

It doesn't matter. Just like it doesn't matter whether or not the virus came from the lab in Wuhan. Most countries and governments got caught with their pants down on this and there were decisions made and things said that caused more harm than good. Even if you can pin the blame or find definitive fault, then what? What does it really matter in the big picture?

What matters is that we have found ways to mitigate it and hopefully we can come together and carry on moving forward and we "Won't Get Fooled Again"

FMP

[Lencoboy]

It doesn't matter. Just like it doesn't matter whether or not the virus came from the lab in Wuhan. Most countries and governments got caught with their pants down on this and there were decisions made and things said that caused more harm than good. Even if you can pin the blame or find definitive fault, then what? What does it really matter in the big picture?

What matters is that we have found ways to mitigate it and hopefully we can come together and carry on moving forward and we "Won't Get Fooled Again"

FMP

Yeah, most govts the world over were far too slow to respond and as per usual, more concerned about looking after number one (including the UK govt in particular)!

[EKB]

The WHO relies entirely from data coming from it's member nations, so if that data isn't good, then the response also can't be good. Decades of governments around the world (including my own) failing to invest in or even maintain funding to public health I think has played a critical role in the COVID crisis. The thing with public health is that when it's working, everything tends to be going okay because it tends to be preventative. So it gets eyed-up first for cuts because "why do we need this program, everything is fine" ... but when everything is not fine, it's the first to get dissected in the post-mortem.

Anyway, I hope we've all learned a lesson from this. It's hard to examine systemic issues, and much more satisfying to blame a single cause. But, without the systemic issues, the single cause wouldn't have been nearly as big a problem.

[Lencoboy]

The WHO relies entirely from data coming from it's member nations, so if that data isn't good, then the response also can't be good. Decades of governments around the world (including my own) failing to invest in or even maintain funding to public health I think has played a critical role in the COVID crisis. The thing with public health is that when it's working, everything tends to be going okay because it tends to be preventative. So it gets eyed-up first for cuts because "why do we need this program, everything is fine" ... but when everything is not fine, it's the first to get dissected in the post-mortem.

Anyway, I hope we've all learned a lesson from this. It's hard to examine systemic issues, and much more satisfying to blame a single cause. But, without the systemic issues, the single cause wouldn't have been nearly as big a problem.

Likewise, I wonder how many people throughout the world have learned lessons from the Global Financial Crisis?

I bet most now probably consider it 'water under the bridge', especially those on the political right, who, paradoxically, seemed to be the most vocal and angry about it all at the time.