Extracts below. Full text: https://www.science.org/content/article/working-without-them-painful-who...
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Sources who asked not to be named told Health Policy Watch that US officials were unable to advise or engage with WHO officials on the ground in the DRC, which had sometimes meant that they ignored them in meetings...
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, WHO head of health emergencies, recently told the journal, Science, that he missed working with US scientists “at a technical level” to address the current Ebola outbreak.
“In the past, they would be part and parcel of any response, and just working without them is painful for me. I know it’s also painful for them, because we’re still friends and they’re just unable to engage as they would like to,” said Ihekweazu.
Lawrence Gostin, distinguished professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington DC: "Sometimes, [US] CDC officials participate in WHO activities and communicate with WHO scientists. Other times, CDC officials refuse to attend WHO programs and activities, and do not communicate with the WHO... Most bizarrely, I’ve heard that CDC officials are in the room but do not speak. This is an unpredictable, unhelpful, and unprofessional way to conduct business, especially when it involves life-and-death decisions...
This inconsistency, unpredictability, and constrained collaboration significantly impedes the response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC.”
Gostin added that there was “incomplete and grudging communication” between US government offices and other UN agencies such as UNICEF.
“The US is often seen as an obstacle to overcome in global health, rather than an invaluable partner,” Gostin concluded.
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HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org