The World Health Organization Reforms in the Time of COVID-19

During its 70-year history, the World Health Organization (WHO) has undergone various reforms led by several Directors-General, including Halfdan Mahler at the Alma-Ata Conference on primary health care in 1978, Gro Harlem Brundtland with her ‘reach out to the private sector’ in 1998, and Margaret Chan with her unfinished debate on the role of ‘non-state actors’ in 2012. The Organization’s fragility is once again being highlighted, as the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that the WHO does not have the legal instruments and mechanisms necessary to enforce its standards and guidelines, and that its funding is not sustainable and adequate to respond to the challenge. This chapter seeks to identify the main problems faced by the WHO and the necessary measures that a reform of the Organization would have to take.