COVID-19: WHO's handling of the pandemic

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WHO's handling of the pandemic . . . . . LISTEN

'WHO should never again have authority over a pandemic,' says law and public health professor

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CBC Radio Sunday Edition April 26, 2020 - 13:20 min.

'This is the last pandemic WHO should ever touch because it keeps getting them wrong'

PHOTO: The World Health Organization has come under intense scrutiny for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Amir Attaran is a professor in the Faculties of Law and School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. (CBC)

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization has been met with widespread fury and condemnation. But even people who have denounced Trump's decision are asking pointed questions about how the WHO has responded to COVID-19.

Among them is Amir Attaran, a professor in the Faculties of Law and School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa. He says Trump is using the organization as a scapegoat to distract attention from his own failures — but the WHO should never be allowed to handle a pandemic again.

He also says that Canada is one of the worst developed nations in the world when it comes to collecting and sharing public health data, and it will seriously hamper our ability to restart the economy, following the pandemic.

Here are excerpts from his conversation with The Sunday Edition's host Michael Enright. They have been edited for clarity and condensed.

WHO's handling of the pandemic
[I would give them] a C-minus. "C" if I'm in a better mood. They haven't done an exemplary job. They also haven't failed. That's important to say because … it has actually done much better this time than it did for Ebola some years ago. . . . .

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