The WHO has a crucial role in coordinating the global response to pandemics and health emergencies, but this important work is undermined by strategic incoherence and an ideological approach to policymaking.
The WHO is most effective when it unites nations around practical solutions, rather than dividing them in ideological debates. Next week in Geneva the Executive Board needs to steady the ship. WHO’s proper role should to be to set the top priorities for global health, and not try to be all things to all people. WHO must get back to basics, and put politics to one side.