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One of the authors of a report rejected by the World Health Organization (WHO) on measures in Italy against the coronavirus warned his bosses in May that people would die and that the reputation of the UN health agency would suffer ” catastrophically “if he hid the document for political reasons. The Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The AP clarified that it had read several internal WHO emails.
The full report by Francesco Zambon, WHO coordinator for Italy and its regions during the pandemic, and his team examines the reaction of the Italian government and health system after the country became the epicenter of the spread in February. The purpose of the report was to help other countries prepare for the pandemic, the AP notes.
A day after its publication on May 13, after undergoing internal approval procedures, the report was downloaded from the WHO website. Subsequently, WHO explained that the report was withdrawn due to “factual inaccuracies” and not because the Italian government has pressured.
This prompted Zambon to address Tedros’s boss, Adanom Gebreyesus, directly on May 28. He warned that hiding the report undermined trust in the WHO and that further attempts at censorship would compromise the agency’s independence and its relations with the donor countries that fund its research.
The attitude towards the report is “a great scandal in a delicate moment for the UN Health Agency on the upcoming KOVID-19 investigation, “Zambon wrote.
A WHO statement released today said Zambon “expresses the views of many people and has been reported through the appropriate channels.”
AP recalls that during the first stage of the spread of the coronavirus in January WHO avoided publicly criticizing its major donors despite the fact that their policies undermine public health. For example, WHO officials expressed private discontent with China’s lack of information, but publicly praised Beijing for its transparent actions. Scientists at the WHO have unofficially questioned Britain’s “herd immunity” policy, but publicly supported it.
