The World Health Organization should be overhauled and given more authority to investigate global disease threats, according to an independent review that found COVID-19 mushroomed into a pandemic amid a myriad of failures, gaps and delays in the international response.
While stopping short of assigning blame to any particular factor, the report released Wednesday by a panel co-chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark linked the severity of the global outbreak to deficiencies across governments, the WHO and other multilateral organizations, as well as regulations that guide official actions.
The panel also called for an agreement to waive vaccine patents, limited terms for WHO leaders and an oversight body and legally binding treaty to bolster the prevention and response to future pandemics.