Andrew Lakoff, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The WHO is a health agency, not a political one. Yet political leaders have often criticized it. Still, the move by the US to pull out from the organization is unprecedented.
The actions of one country cannot be allowed to undermine decades of multilateral efforts to improve the health and well-being of all peoples of the world.
239 scientists have penned an open letter to the WHO arguing COVID-19 likely spreads through the air. But what is airborne transmission, and how strong is the evidence COVID-19 spreads this way?
The smallpox virus appears to have been with humanity for millennia before a global vaccination drive wiped it out. Current genome research suggests how smallpox spread and where it came from.
While those of us from Australia and New Zealand might be starting to relax as restrictions ease, the pandemic is actually growing at an increasing rate worldwide.
In a Tuesday night speech titled “Australia and the world in the time of COVID-19”, Marise Payne has called for reform of multilateral institutions, including the World Health Organisation.
Warnings about major disease outbreaks are supposed to come from national and international medical intelligence and surveillance agencies that most Americans have never heard of.
A COVID-19-type pandemic had long been predicted, but our warnings weren’t heeded. We need to start rethinking our approach to health now – even in countries like New Zealand.
It is no accident that those leaders who have responded worst to this crisis have also been the main sources of countless conspiracy theories and misinformation.
The decision to authorise a WHO investigation into the origins of the coronavirus is only a partial vindication for nations keen to hold China to account. But it will help strengthen global health measures.
China has only agreed to an investigation if it happens after the pandemic and is led by the WHO – two stipulations that likely won’t sit well with western countries.
Despite the transnational dimension of the Covid-19 crisis, transnational responses are facing many obstacles. Yet, some regional organisations might be able to expand their mandate and resources.
Director of Koi Tū, the Centre for Informed Futures; former Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau