WHO chief pledges 'transparent' review of its handling of Ebola crisis
WHO chief Margaret Chan says agency will be upfront about how it handled disease, after damning internal report details its initial failings
The head of the World Health Organisation said the agency would be upfront about its handling of the Ebola outbreak after an internal report detailed failures in containing the virus - while a senior WHO official praised the precautions China has taken.
In a draft document, the WHO says "nearly everyone" involved in the Ebola response failed to notice factors that turned the outbreak into the biggest on record.
It blames incompetent staff, bureaucracy and a lack of reliable information.
WHO director general and former Hong Kong director of health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said on Monday that the report was a "work in progress". Chan, who was attending a conference in Tunisia, said: "I have promised WHO will be fully transparent and accountable."
Despite the shortcomings listed in the report, the WHO praised China's response to the Ebola threat as health and immigration authorities remained on alert. "China took quick action to prepare for the potential spread of Ebola. For example, China strengthened its surveillance and screening systems at airports and other points of entry and took measures to quickly develop and disseminate technical guidance on infection, prevention and control to health workers," said Dr Bernhard Schwartlander, the WHO representative in China.
Schwartlander added that recent cases in Spain and the US demonstrated that no country was immune to Ebola. But he said: "China has moved fast to prepare should an imported case arise".