This week the World Health Assembly (WHA) held its annual meeting in Geneva – a virtual meeting for the first time. It was followed on Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board which is elected by the WHA. The WHO includes 190 member states, but unfortunately not Taiwan. It’s hard to imagine being managed by 190 bosses, and so it’s not surprising that differences over policies emerge. The major topic for discussion was the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO is advocating for universal availability of the COVID vaccine when one becomes available.
Director General’s remarks at opening of the Exec Board Virtual Meeting
On May 28th, the WHO in association with UNICEF and IBFAN will launch the 2020 report on the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. During the COVID-19 crisis, the infant formula companies have continued and appear to have expanded the promotion of their products and exploit the present crisis, disregarding the health of mothers and infants. Breastfeeding is the safest way to feed all infants, even if mothers have the coronavirus. To join the virtual launch of the 2020 report, register at: Registration Link
COVID-19 Update
Daily updates are provided by the WHO or at the Johns Hopkins University.
There are now 5.5 million cases of COVID-19 and 350 000 deaths. There are plenty of false rumours circulating about the origins of the virus. Did it come from a laboratory? Most virologists say definitely not. Interestingly, similar rumours have circulated about the 1918 influenza epidemic. Did it come from a German laboratory? The answer is no. And it didn’t come from Spain – more likely from Asia (Binns and Low, 2018).
WHO and Childhood Vaccination Delays
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many routine public health activities. WHO has estimated that 80 million children have missed out on routine vaccinations for such conditions as measles, diphtheria and polio. This will require urgent action as soon as it is safe.
The USA and the WHO
The WHO came into being in 1948 as an agency of the United Nations. It inherited a century of international conferences held to discuss and harmonized quarantine regulations and to control the spread of infectious diseases. After World War 1, the League of Nations took on some of these functions, notable by the absence of the United States of America (USA) who declined to join the international community.
The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) was founded about the same time as WHO in 1946 with the mission of preventing the spread of malaria across the USA, a task, it completed successfully. It has since developed into the premier public health research, resource and advocacy centre in the world. It developed a very fruitful relationships with the WHO and many national public health organizations to monitor and prevent disease throughout the world. CDC soon recognized that the best way to prevent disease entering the USA was to improve the health of the whole world. Its epidemiological training programs were the best in the world and many modules are made available free of charge, including the Epi-Info statistical and survey program. With the present US administration, the CDC has been weakened by budget cuts and political appointments to its leadership.
Now, the US has decided to threaten the WHO over of all things the COVID-19 pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 is one of a family of corona viruses endemic to bats. The most likely route of transmission to humans is the pangolin as an intermediate host. The Chinese scientists involved in the viral studies of the SARS-CoV-2 shared the structure as soon as it had been analyzed and appear to have been open with their data. The CDC had a number of epidemiologist and scientists working in China an in Wuhan. They were withdrawn by the Trump administration in mid-2019. It now seems ridiculous and counterproductive for the US to now be complaining about a lack of communication when they themselves withdrew the liaison officers and to threaten the WHO. The international public health efforts will survive but USA might be in the losing end.
APACPH International Webinar
This International Webinar on COVID-19 – Breaking the Transmission Chain through Community Empowerment, was held on April 30th and jointly organised between Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) and the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA). We had over 800 participants from over 40 countries. Public health experts from around the Asia-Pacific region deliberated on the ways in which individual countries handle the pandemic. The webinar provided a platform for the exchange of ideas, share best practices and to assist healthcare professional in conveying their thought in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic issues. Also, effectiveness of following public health principles was highlighted.
Reference
Binns C and Low WY. Remembering Gustav Klimt and 50 Million Others: The 100 Year Anniversary of the Greatest Human Epidemic. Asia Pac J Public Health. 2018;30(5): 412-414.
Colin Binns, MBBS, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health
School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Wah Yun Low, PhD
Managing Editor, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health
President, Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health
Deputy Executive Director, Asia Europe Institute
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
