WHO chief should shun nepotism

Is the World Health Organisation getting sucked into politics unwittingly, thanks to its Director General? Yes, seems to be the answer, if one goes by the developments since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stoked controversy on April 8 with comments accusing the Taiwanese government of launching an organised campaign against him in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Tedros, Taiwan was politicising the coronavirus pandemic to attack the WHO when the world needs to unite in combating the disease. What has raised eyebrows in particular, however, was Tedros accusing the Taiwanese government of "racism" against Africans in this purported campaign against him. As we all know, China does not consider Taiwan as an independent country and claims it to be its own province which one day or the other has to re-join the mainland.

Taiwan has been kept out of the ambit of the WHO, the UN agency responsible for global health initiatives. Taiwan has also not been allowed to participate in the WHO as an observer, something it was allowed to do in the past. As a result, Taiwan is excluded from the distribution of international medical resources, as well as information on disease outbreaks such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Tedros used cheap tactics to defend himself claiming that personal attacks have been mounted against him and those were all due to racism. He said he was proud to be a black and proud to be a Negro. Negro? Black? Did Taiwan say that? The worst word that Taiwan could use to pour venom on someone may be is by calling such a person 'Chinese'. In spite of no official support from the WHO, Taiwan today is seen as the country that had the best response to the pandemic. Taiwan was the first country, in January itself, to warn the WHO of the impending pandemic and its human to human transfer nature.

Yet, Tedros denied everything in his blind love for China (or whatever may be the reasons). He also advised against country's sealing their borders and social distancing again, an early Chinese line. If there is anyone playing politics, it is Tedros, the head of WHO. And those are the dirtiest politics. Taiwan has successfully kept the number of Covid-19 cases low, with limited cases of community transmission. In spite of close proximity to mainland China, Taiwan currently has just 380 confirmed Covid-19 cases and only five deaths have occurred due to the coronavirus. Apart from the rapid response of the Taiwanese government in enforcing quarantine measures, the Taiwanese government took decisive steps to intervene in private industry to step up the production of medical masks, alcohol sanitizer, and other supplies used to prevent the spread of COVID-19. If only the WHO were to listen to the Taiwanese, the world would have been a better place today for us to live. It is criminal nepotism on part of the Tedros. The world is today busy fighting coronavirus. Just give it sometime and it will give it back to China in some measure. Rather a good measure. And to Tedros too. Let us hope so.