# 4638
Over the past several months the World Health Organization has come under increasing (and in my mind, largely unwarranted) attack from critics who see conspiracies and duplicity behind their declaration of a pandemic last June.
Recently, the BMJ ran an article calling into question the integrity of the experts who serve as advisors to the WHO, suggesting that they might have been influenced by Big Pharma.
On Saturday I covered CIDRAP Dissects The WHO Allegations, and on Sunday I offered my latest take on the situation in Of Pandemics, Hurricanes and An Abundance Of Caution.
On Tuesday, the WHO released Margaret Chan’s Open Letter To The BMJ.
Today we get a lengthy response from the WHO regarding a number of the criticisms levied towards them. I’ll not post the whole thing, as it runs roughly 2,000 words.
Follow the link to read it in its entirety.
This briefing covers the following points:
Is this a genuine pandemic?
Did WHO remove severity from the definition of a pandemic?
Did WHO exaggerate the threat?
Were any WHO pandemic decisions made to increase industry profits?
What safeguards are in place to guard against conflicts of interest?
What is the function of the Emergency Committee and why have the names of its members not been disclosed?
What evidence supports a role for antiviral drugs during an influenza pandemic?
Was a WHO meeting held in 2002 on influenza vaccines and antiviral drugs influenced by industry?
The international response to the influenza pandemic: WHO responds to the critics
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 21
Background
10 JUNE 2010 | GENEVA -- On Friday 4 June 2010, the BMJ, formerly British Medical Journal, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) simultaneously released reports critical of the World Health Organization's handling of the H1N1 pandemic. WHO takes the issues and concerns that were raised seriously and wishes to set the record straight on several points.
Related Post:
- Today’s CDC H3N2v Briefing
- Your Daily Risk Assessment Briefing
- CDC Telebriefing On Influenza
- WHO: Comparing Seasonal And Pandemic Flu Deaths
- WHO Pandemic Update # 77
- WHO Responds To Conflict Of Interest Allegations
- WHO Briefing Statement On Tamiflu Resistant Viruses
- WHO Pandemic Briefing #15: Farmed Animals And H1N1
- WHO Briefing Note # 14: Vaccine Policies And Strategies
- CIDRAP News & Overview Of CDC Briefing
- WHO Briefing Note # 12: Antiviral Use
- WHO Pandemic Briefing Note 10
- WHO Briefing Note #9 & Weekly Update
- EID Book Review - Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
- Study: Self-Administered Vaccines In Adults
- BMC: Exploring The `Age Shift’ Of Pandemic Mortality
- WHO Europe: Revising Pandemic Preparedness Plans
- Paper: Are We Prepared For A Pandemic In Low Resource Communities?
- CSIRO: The Quest For Flu Resistant Poultry
- University of Michigan: Influenza Encyclopedia 1918-1919
- Lancet: Public Response To The H1N1 Pandemic Of 2009
- Pathogens At the Gate
- NIAID Video: How Influenza Pandemics Occur
- IDSA: Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza Preparedness
- An Increasingly Complex Flu Field
- Study: Kids, Underlying Conditions, And The 2009 Pandemic Flu
- Hong Kong Updates Their Pandemic Preparedness Plan
- Yes, We Have No Pandemic . . .
- Study: Antimicrobial Prescribing Practices During The 2009 Pandemic
- Novel Viruses & Chekhov’s Gun
- MIT: Contagion Dynamics Of International Air Travel
- Pandemic Uncertainties
- Lancet: Estimating Global 2009 Pandemic Mortality
- PNAS: H1N1 Vaccination Produced Antibodies Against Multiple Flu Strains
- Lancet: David Fedson On Statins For Pandemic Influenza
- H5N1: Now That They’ve Broken The `Species Barrier’
- Downton Abbey Rekindles An Old HCW Debate
- Study: The Effects Of School Closures During A Pandemic
- Hong Kong’s Coronavirus Response
- NWS: Possible Coastal Storm Mid-Week
- Caveat Twitter
- Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists: Fukushima Crisis in review
- WHO Panel: World Ill-Prepared To Deal With A Pandemic
- Brookings Institute: A Year Of Living Dangerously
- Japan: OCHA SITREP # 4
- IAEA: Onagawa Facility Declares Level 1 Emergency
- IAEA Update On Fukushima Plant Explosion
- IHR Review Committee Report On The Pandemic Of 2009
- PHAC: Lessons Learned From The 2009 Pandemic
- PLoS Essay: Reflections On The International Pandemic Response
- Two From CIDRAP
- ASEAN-UN-USAID Pandemic Response Exercise
- Dr. David Fedson: The Case For Using Statins In A Pandemic
- IRIN Analysis: Egypt’s Response To The Pandemic
- WHO Europe Chief Interview
- John Barry On The Pandemic Response
- HPA Conference: Pandemic Lessons Learned
- The CDC’s Oil Spill Response Page
- Margaret Chan’s Open Letter To The BMJ
- WHO Confirms China H5N1 Fatality, Rejects BMJ Report
- Referral: New Scientist On The WHO `Conspiracy’
- Of Pandemics, Hurricanes and An Abundance Of Caution
Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]