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To be fair, during his time as minister of health, there was a modest reduction in Ethiopia’s infant mortality rate and he played a positive role in the global fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. However, his tenure was also plagued by scandals. While running to lead the WHO, Tedros was accused by David Nabarro, a medical doctor and prominent global health expert from the United Kingdom, of covering up three cholera epidemics during his time as health minister, which Tedros passed off as cases of “acute watery diarrhea.”

Photo by Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

With this historical context in mind, let’s re-examine Director General Tedros’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. He praised the Chinese Communist party’s handling of the situation, even as doctors like Li Wenliang were being arrested for warning about the epidemic and as people were being welded in quarantine camps through draconian measures. He also opposed the travel restrictions placed on China, declaring them to be discriminatory. He delayed declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, and finally yielded when it had infected over 116 countries.

Countries often have a pandemic response plan that is implemented once a pandemic is declared. But the WHO was left arguing over the semantics of its definition, which delayed these plans being put into action. A prime example of the WHO’s ineptitude was when CNN decided to declare the coronavirus a pandemic on March 9, two days before the WHO.

The WHO is supposed to advocate for patient health, warn governments of potential threats and demand action, not downplay potential global catastrophes, which is what it appears to have done.