3 Critical Challenges for Global Health Security

Abstract

International institutions are poised to make one of the most momentous decisions about the futureof global health security since the formation of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. By the end of this year, 5 global commissions will have published major critiques of global health preparedness, all spurred by the Ebola epidemic, which exposed deep flaws in the international system. These commiss ions inc lude the WHO’s independent Ebola Interim Assessment Panel, which reported in July that senior leaders failed to respond effectively during the crisis in West Africa, calling for “significant transformation” of the agency (http://bit.ly/1JS5lQe); the WHO Review Committee on the International Health Regulations (IHR), which held its first meeting in Geneva late August (http://bit .ly/1E5thKN); the Harvard/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Independent Panel on Ebola; the Global Health Risk Framework Commission of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine); and the United Nations (UN) secretary-general formed a High-Level Panel, which includes sitting heads of state to provide political support for major reforms of the global health system (http://bit.ly/1PgRHIk). All the reports will feed into the January meeting of the WHO executive board, with the final decisions taken by the World HealthAssembly inMay2016.Thereareconcerns that 5 commissions will prove to be costly andduplicative.Moreover, there isno assurance that their recommendations will leadtothemeaningfulandenduringchanges now so badly needed in the global health landscape.