STRENGTHENING GLOBAL AND REGIONAL SYSTEMS
Effective national public health systems represent the first line of defense against potential pandemics, but global and regional capabilities and coordination are also essential. Here, too, the recent Ebola outbreak revealed weaknesses. The international response was slow to mobilize and poorly coordinated.
Our report sets out 10 recommendations to address these flaws. Most focus on the role, capabilities, and resourcing of the WHO. The Commission believes the WHO must take leadership within the international system in preparing and responding to potential pandemics but must do so much more effectively. The report recommends establishing a Center for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (CHEPR) — building on the recommendations of the WHO Ebola Interim Assessment Panel and the actions that the WHO’s director-general has already taken to integrate and reinforce the organization’s emergency-response capabilities. The Commission also recommends that this center be guided and overseen by an external Technical Governing Board that provides oversight and a degree of political insulation to the CHEPR. That board, under the chairmanship of the director-general, should be composed of experts independent of and drawn from outside the WHO, on the basis of technical expertise. Among other tasks, this board would advise the director-general on when to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). To ensure adequate and committed funding for the CHEPR, the Commission proposes increasing member states’ assessed contributions