The World Health Organization, which is tasked by the United Nations with directing international responses to epidemics, has been widely criticized for its slow response to the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa that has already killed over 10,000 people.
Now, internal documents obtained by the Associated Press reveal that the WHO held off on declaring the outbreak a public health emergency for months, despite warnings from its own employees.
Some experts, including a WHO doctor interviewed by the AP, argue that an earlier alarm could have galvanized a more robust global response and potentially saved lives.
By mid-April, the agency was receiving urgent correspondence from staffers in impacted countries warning that the epidemic was rapidly spreading, but senior officials declined to sound a global alarm. When the WHO held discussions in early June about whether to declare an emergency, a director referred to this option as a “last resort.”
AP reporters Maria Cheng and Raphael Satter say the agency cited “worries that declaring such an emergency—akin to an international SOS—could anger the African countries involved, hurt their economies or interfere with the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.”