The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has welcomed the report issued today by a panel of experts tasked to look into the agency’s response to the unprecedented 2014 Ebola outbreak, which said that WHO needs to re-establish its pre-eminence as the guardian of global public health and that this will require it to make significant changes throughout, with strong political and financial support from Member States.

Rebecca Johnson, Sierra Leone Nurse who survived Ebola addresses during the 2015 WHO Executive Board, Geneva. Sunday 25 January 2015. Photo by Violaine Martin

“The Panel firmly believes that this is a defining moment not only for WHO and the global health emergency response but also for the governance of the entire global health system,” said the Report of the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel released today. “The challenges raised in this report are critical to the delivery of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all age.”

The Ebola outbreak is still ongoing and improved methods of working are incorporated into the response as they are developed.

At WHO Executive Board’s special session on Ebola in January 2015, Member States adopted a resolution calling for an assessment by a panel of independent experts on all aspects of WHO’s response in the Ebola outbreak, which affected more than 27,500 people, including over 11,000 deaths, mostly in West Africa. In response to the resolution, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan established a panel to undertake this work.