世界卫生组织必须做些什么才能获得美国的支持（英文）

ISSUE BRIEFNo. 5098 | August 6, 2020MARgAREt tHAtCHER CENtER FOR FREEDOMthis paper, in its entirety, can be found at http://report.heritage.org/ib5098the Heritage Foundation | 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) 546-4400 | heritage.orgNothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.What the World Health Organization Must Do to Earn Back U.S. SupportBrett D. Schaefer and Danielle PletkaIn a pandemic, a global health organi-zation that is overly deferential to one nation and incapable of being an honest broker costs the very lives it exists to save.KEY TAKEAWAYSWhile China deserves primary blame for the devastation of COVID-19, the WHO also played a key role by failing to alert the world to Beijing’s lack of transparency.the WHO’s failures cannot be allowed to recur. Without change, it will fail again. It must implement reforms if it wants to restore confidence and earn u.s. support.In a global pandemic, an impartial, science-ori-ented, competently led, transnational health organization is vital. There is no better way to prevent or detect, and to coordinate a global response to, infectious diseases that have pandemic potential. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of lives depend on it. Conversely, an organization of this kind that is overly deferential to one nation and incapable of being an honest broker, costs the very lives it exists to save. That is why President Donald Trump sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General notify-ing him of the intent of the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO),1 and why, with the right reforms, the WHO can lead the U.S. to reverse that decision. August 6, 2020 | 2ISSUE BRIEF | No. 5098heritage.orgClear FailingsStarting in December 2019, perhaps earlier, people began showing up in hospitals in Wuhan, China, with pneumonia-like symptoms that did not respond to standard treatment. Genetic sequencing revealed a new coro-navirus similar to the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) that had arisen in China in 2003. The new virus causes COVID-19, which has infected over 18 million people around the world, causing over 700,000 deaths as of August 5, 2020.SARS was largely contained to East Asia, but was exacerbated by Chi-na’s lack of cooperation and transparency, including censoring doctors and withholding information from the WHO and the international com-munity. This experience led the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the WHO, to update and strengthen the International Health Regulations (IHRs) in 2005. Under the legally binding IHRs, “countries have agreed to build their capacities to detect, assess and report public health events.”2As with the SARS outbreak, China failed to act in a transparent and cooperative manner with the WHO and the international community. Specifically, Beijing downplayed the s