World Health
Organisation's help during
the COVID-19 pandemic
Name: Pranay
Class: X
Subject: History
School: Future Kids School
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher
kalyani mam as well as our principal Saritha mam who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic “WHOs
Help during the COVID 19 Pandemic”, which also helped me in
doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new
things I am really thankful to them.
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who
helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the
United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO
Constitution, which establishes the agency's governing structure and
principles, states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the
highest possible level of health".It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,
with six semi autonomous regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.
Contributions of WHO during the
pandemic of COVID-19 according to the
timeline
January of 2020
WHO published a comprehensive package of guidance documents for countries, covering topics
related to the management of an outbreak of a new disease:
• Infection prevention and control
• Laboratory testing
• National capacities review tool
• Risk communication and community engagement
• Disease Commodity Package (v1)
• Disease Commodity Package (v2)
• Travel advice
• Clinical management
• Surveillance case definitions
The Director-General declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency
of international concern (PHEIC), WHO's highest level of alarm.
On 5 January 2020, the WHO informed the world about "pneumonia
of unknown cause" in China and subsequently followed up with
investigating the disease. On 20 January, the WHO confirmed human-to-
human transmission of the disease. On 30 January, the WHO declared the
outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and warned
all countries to prepare. On 11 March, the WHO said that the outbreak
constituted a pandemic. By 5 October the same year, the WHO estimated
that many parts of the world had been infected by the virus .
February of 2020
WHO convened a Global Research and Innovation Forum on the novel coronavirus, attended in
person by more than 300 experts and funders from 48 countries, with a further 150 joining online.
Participants came together to assess the level of knowledge, identify gaps and work together to
increase the rate and fund priority research, with equitable access as a fundamental principle
underpinning this work.
The Team Leaders of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 conducted a press conference
to report on the main findings of the mission. The Mission warned that "much of the global
community is not yet ready, in mindset and materially, to implement the measures that have been
employed to contain COVID-19 in China”.
March of 2020
WHO issued a consolidated package of existing guidance covering the preparedness, readiness
and response actions for four different transmission scenarios: no cases, sporadic cases, clusters of
cases and community transmission.
WHO and partners launched the Solidarity trial, an international clinical trial that aims to
generate robust data from around the world to find the most effective treatments for COVID-19.
While randomized clinical trials normally take years to design and conduct, the Solidarity trial was
designed to accelerate this process. Enrolling patients in one single randomized trial was to help
facilitate the rapid worldwide comparison of unproven treatments. This arrangement was also to
overcome the risk of multiple small trials not generating the strong evidence needed to determine
the relative effectiveness of potential treatments.
April of 2020
WHO reported that over 1 million cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed worldwide, a more
than tenfold increase in less than a month.
WHO and Global Citizen co-hosted the ‘One World: Together At Home’ concert, a global
on-air special to celebrate and support front line healthcare workers. The concert raised a
total of $127.9 million, providing $55.1 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
and $72.8 million to local and regional responders.
The Director-General convened the IHR Emergency Committee on COVID-19 for a third time,
with an expanded membership to reflect the nature of the pandemic and the need to include
additional areas of expertise. The Emergency Committee met on 30 April and issued its statement
on 1 May. The Director-General declared that the outbreak of COVID-19 continued to constitute a
PHEIC. He accepted the advice of the Committee to WHO and issued the Committee’s advice to
States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR.
May of 2020
The 73rd World Health Assembly, the first ever to be held virtually, adopted a landmark resolution to bring
the world together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, co-sponsored by more than 130 countries – the largest
number on record – and adopted by consensus. Fourteen heads of state participated in the opening and
closing sessions. The resolution calls for the intensification of efforts to control the pandemic, and
“recognizes the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 as a global public good for health", and
calls for equitable access to and fair distribution of all essential health technologies and products to combat
the virus. It takes stock of the pandemic’s “disproportionately heavy impact on the poor and the most
vulnerable”, addressing not just health but also the wider impact on economies and societies and the
"exacerbation of inequalities within and between countries".
The resolution calls on Member States to take several actions including to provide WHO both with
"sustainable funding" and "timely, accurate and sufficiently detailed public health information related to
the COVID-19 pandemic, as required by the International Health Regulations (2005)". It also requests the
Director-General, working with other organizations and countries, “to identify the zoonotic source of the
virus and the route of introduction to the human population”.
June of 2020
WHO welcomed funding commitments made at the Global Vaccine Summit. Hosted virtually by
the UK government, this was Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s, third pledging conference. These
commitments will help maintain immunization in lower-income countries, mitigating the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic. The Summit also highlighted how important a safe, effective and
equitably accessible vaccine will be in controlling COVID-19.
WHO announced that the hydroxychloroquine arm of the Solidarity Trial to find an effective
COVID-19 treatment was being stopped. The decision was based on large scale randomized
evidence from the Solidarity, Discovery and Recovery trials, as well as a review of available
published evidence from other sources, which showed that hydroxychloroquine did not reduce
mortality for hospitalised COVID-19 patients.
July of 2020
The WHO Director-General announced the co-chairs of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness
and Response (IPPR) to evaluate the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This announcement was
a response to the request in a landmark resolution adopted by the World Health Assembly in May, which
called on WHO to initiate an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the lessons learned from the
international health response to COVID-19.
In remarks to WHO Member States, the Director-General said the Panel will be co-chaired by former Prime
Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark and former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. In the past,
WHO's internal evaluation department would serve as a secretariat in independent evaluations but the
Director-General proposed an independent secretariat fully accountable to the two co-chairs and the panel,
due to the unique situation.
August of 2020
WHO published updated guidance on public health surveillance for COVID-19, which includes
revised suspected and probable case definitions that integrate new knowledge about the clinical
spectrum of COVID-19 and its transmission.
Speaking at a Member State Briefing, the Director-General announced his plan to establish
a Review Committee on the functioning of the IHR during COVID-19.
This Committee will advise the Director-General on whether any changes to the IHR may be
necessary to ensure this powerful tool of international law is as effective as possible. It has been
established in accordance with the IHR and a landmark resolution adopted by the World Health
Assembly in May, which called on WHO to initiate an independent and comprehensive evaluation
of the lessons learned from the international health response to COVID-19.
September of 2020
The Director-General and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission co-hosted
the inaugural meeting of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Facilitation Council.
The meeting was co-chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Prime Minister
Erna Solberg of Norway.
Global leaders, including over 30 heads of state and ministers, committed to: provide sustained
political leadership, advocate in support of the ACTAccelerator Investment Case and work to
ensure that all countries and populations have early, affordable and equitable access to the new
vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics the
ACT-Accelerator is pursuing.
WHO joined with partners to make 120 million affordable, quality COVID-19 rapid tests
available for low- and middle-income countries.
October of 2020
WHO announced conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of repurposed drugs for COVID-19.
Interim results from the Solidarity Trial indicated that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine,
lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day
mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients.
November of 2020
WHO published terms of reference for the WHO-convened Global Study of the Origins
of SARS-CoV-2. It outlines two phases of studies: Short term studies (Phase 1) will be
conducted to better understand how the virus might have started circulating in Wuhan,
People’s Republic of China. Building on the findings of these short-term studies, and
the scientific literature, longer term studies will be developed (Phase 2).
WHO updated Member States on its research into the origins of the virus, including a
status update on the international team’s membership and work with their Chinese
parts, publishing the international team list on 20 November 2020.
December of 2020
United Kingdom authorities reported a SARS-CoV-2 variant to WHO. The
United Kingdom referred to the variant as SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01
(Variant of Concern, year 2020, month 12,variant 01).
January of 2021
WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) met to review the vaccine
data for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and formulate policy recommendations on how best to use it.
The vaccine was the first to receive an emergency use validation from WHO for efficacy against
COVID-19.
COVAX, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all
countries, announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement for up to 40 million doses of
the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. COVAX also confirmed it would exercise its option – via an
existing agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) – to receive its first 100 million doses
of the AstraZeneca/Oxford
University-developed vaccine manufactured by SII.
February of 2021
WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gavi,
the Vaccine Alliance, alongside key delivery partner UNICEF, published
COVAX’s first interim distribution forecast with information on the availability
of vaccines doses in the first half of 2021 to COVAX participation.
COVAX’s global rollout began, as Ghana became the first country outside India to receive
COVID-19 vaccine doses shipped via COVAX.
March of 2021
WHO listed the COVID-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S, developed by Janssen (Johnson &
Johnson), for emergency use in all countries and for COVAX roll-out. The decision comes on
the back of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorization, which was announced the
day before.
April of 2021
COVAX delivered life-saving vaccines to over 100 economies, 42 days after its first
international delivery. As of this date, COVAX had delivered more than 38 million
doses across six continents by WHO.
Thank
you
