Critically examine the role of WHO in providing global health security during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Introduction

As the UN's directing and coordinating authority on health, the WHO anchors global health security through the International Health Regulations (IHR), 2005. Covid-19 was the severest test of that role.

Positive role

• Declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and characterized Covid-19 as a pandemic on 11 March 2020; issued testing protocols and clinical guidance used worldwide.
• Coordinated the Solidarity therapeutic trials and the ACT-Accelerator; COVAX, run with Gavi and CEPI, delivered close to two billion vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries.

Criticisms

• Delay and deference: slow to declare the emergency, uncritical of China's early opacity on human-to-human transmission, and initially advised against travel restrictions.
• Structural weakness: the IHR gave the WHO no independent inspection or enforcement powers; it depends on member-state reporting.
• Resource dependence: roughly 80 per cent of its budget is earmarked voluntary contributions, limiting autonomy; the US withdrawal announcement in 2020 weakened finances and legitimacy mid-pandemic.
• Equity failure: COVAX missed its targets as rich countries hoarded doses, exposing the limits of voluntary multilateralism.

Conclusion

The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (Sirleaf–Clark) found the WHO underpowered and underfunded rather than culpable alone. The IHR amendments (2024) and the WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted in May 2025 seek stronger surveillance and equitable access. Global health security needs a strengthened, better-financed WHO — not a sidelined one.