The World Health Organization has really let us down of late. Remember the COVID-19 pandemic, many people say that WHO was too slow in its reactions and that caused the deaths of way to many people. When the virus began to spread, most of their reactions were delayed reactions, and things became more miserable that it could have been. We were expecting fast and clear advice, but instead, mixed signals and delayed responses.
Another problem is that WHO relies on its member countries for information and other resources. Not all countries are forthcoming with accurate data in a timely fashion. It was very bad during the Ebola outbreak in such a way that some countries were so slow to report cases and that made control measures next to impossible. This reliance on countries means WHO can't always act as fast or decisively as it should. Yes that's where they get their funding but I think human life matters too much to be slow.
The decision making process even within WHO appears to be very bureaucratic. A lot of red tape is evident across the institution that most definitely slows things down seriously. Politics just keeps interfering all the time. There's no real concern for people's lives or health. Many believe that political pressure held back declaring the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic when it had already crossed pandemic level. I'm sure they were trying to make sure we don't panic and things to get out of control but that delay lead to lost of too many lives.
Such influence can really undermine people's faith in WHO's capacity to protect public health. I think the big problem however, is that it has no authority to enforce its recommendations. They can suggest guidelines, but it's up to each country to follow them. In the pandemic period, we saw how some countries ignored advice from the WHO, and that prolonged the infections and led to more deaths. All these inconsistencies really reduce the effective control of global health issues.
People fault WHO for being hard to understand and a bit confusing. In an emergency, simplicity and speed is very necessary. Yet WHO's messages can be convoluted or difficult to follow and that can result in misinterpretation and people not taking precautions.
We need a more proactive WHO and less one stuck in politics and bureaucracy.