UN Shocker: WHO Resisted Declaring Ebola Emergency
In this March 11, 2015 photo shows the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters building in Geneva, Switzerland. (AP)
GENEVA: In a delay that some say may have cost lives, the World Health Organization resisted calling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a public health emergency until last summer, two months after staff raised the possibility and long after a senior manager called for a drastic change in strategy, The Associated Press has learned.
Among the reasons the UN agency cited in internal deliberations: Worries that declaring such an emergency — akin to an international SOS — could anger the African countries involved, hurt their economies or interfere with the Muslim pilgrimage.