Summarised by Centrist

Dr David Bell, an expert in public health, says the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) trend towards centralisation and plans to entrench power is off-track from its original mission.

The COVID-19 response prioritised a disease mainly affecting the elderly, skewing public perception of its severity due to a focus on death rates over life-years lost. 

“‘Life-years lost’ is an extremely important concept in public health. If we really believe that equity is important – a reasonable chance of all having a roughly equal lifespan – then addressing diseases that remove the most life years makes sense,” says Bell.

Bell says there’s a balance retaining the benefits of international health efforts with preventing corruption. 

“The current rush to transfer greater powers to WHO should therefore not be confused with public health. Publicly funding the further erosion of freedom and basic human rights would be self-harm, while funding access to basic healthcare is a global good,” says Bell. 

Read more over at the Daily Sceptic

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