Former Hong Kong health director Margaret Chan comes under fire over WHO leadership during Ebola crisis
The leadership skills of World Health Organisation chief Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun have come under renewed criticism after a report found she lacked the "independent and courageous decision-making" that was needed during the crucial early days of the deadly Ebola outbreak.
The leadership skills of World Health Organisation chief Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun have come under renewed criticism after a report found she lacked the "independent and courageous decision-making" that was needed during the crucial early days of the deadly Ebola outbreak.
Chan, who was director of health in Hong Kong at the height of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003, was not named directly in the damning report, but the WHO's slow response to the Ebola crisis under her leadership was heavily criticised by the six-member panel appointed to evaluate the global body's handling of the outbreak.
The report said that in order for the WHO to remain fit for purpose, it "must make fundamental changes, particularly in terms of leadership and decision-making processes, in order to deliver on this mandate".
The highly infectious Ebola virus, which has claimed more than 11,000 lives in the past 18 months and remains a threat in the African countries of Guinea and Sierra Leone, became a flashpoint for the global body, leading to calls for reform.
"The panel considers that WHO does not currently possess the capacity or organisational culture to deliver a full emergency public health response," the report said.
The crux of the criticism was that Chan and senior leaders lacked the courage to make a decision that may have upset the countries concerned. This led to a delay in declaring a public health emergency. The panel noted that "independent and courageous decision-making by the director general and the WHO secretariat is necessary with respect to such a declaration. This was absent in the early months of the Ebola crisis".
In the early stages of the outbreak, urgent messages about the magnitude of the crisis were sent to senior leaders but they fell on deaf ears. "Either these did not reach senior leaders or senior leaders did not recognise their significance," the report said.
"WHO does not have a culture of rapid decision-making and tends to adopt a reactive, rather than a proactive approach to emergencies."
The report proposed the setting up of a new Centre for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, calling for the next director general, to be elected in 2017, "to have a full understanding of how this centre fits within the organisation and be committed to its fundamental role within WHO".
Chan has served as WHO director general since 2006. Her current second term ends in June 2017. In Hong Kong, she faced similar criticism over her leadership skills from a Legislative Council panel investigating the handling of the Sars crisis.
The experts urged the WHO to demand more money from its member states. It also called for stronger leadership and sharper political will, but stopped short of demanding resignations over the largest Ebola outbreak in history.
A spokesman for the WHO in Geneva told the that it welcomed the report as "constructive criticism".
