Panel find flaws with WHO handling of swine flu epidemic

Mar 10, 2011, 18:03 GMT

Geneva - A panel of experts said it had found flaws with how the World Health Organisation (WHO) responded to the swine flu (H1N1) outbreak, according to a draft report posted Thursday on the organization's website.

Starkly, the WHO-appointed panel also found that despite new health regulations introduced in 2005, 'the world is ill-prepared to respond to a severe influenza pandemic or to any similarly global, sustained and threatening public health emergency.'

While the committee found no evidence of malfeasance in handling H1N1, it said there were 'needlessly complex' mechanisms used to define a 'pandemic,' causing confusion among professionals and the public.

Also, in the future, the severity of illness, and not just the spread of a flu virus, should be considered, the report said.

The WHO did a poor job of managing conflicts of interest among expert advisers, the panel said, but there was no 'direct evidence' of commercial influence on the decision-making process. It also suggested that the identity of future experts advisers not be kept secret.

At the same time, the panel said the most important flaw with international health regulations is the lack of enforceable sanctions.

'If a country fails to explain why it has adopted more restrictive traffic and trade measures than those recommended by WHO, no legal consequences follow,' the panel found.

During the outbreak some countries enforced tougher than warranted restrictions, such as bans on the import of pork and travel limitations.

The panel, headed by Harvey Fineberg from the Institute of Medicine in Washington, also found that in general, there was a 'failure to acknowledge legitimate reasons for some criticism.'

Fineberg was appointed by the WHO to review its work following criticism by member states about how the agency, headed by Margaret Chan, dealt with the outbreak.

A review committee will meet from March 28-30 at WHO headquarters in Geneva to discuss the report, after which it will be finalised.

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