The Breathing Catastrophe: COVID-19 and Global Health Governance.

In the second year of the pandemic, the malaise of global health governance has come to the fore at the intersection of the trajectories of global crises that have converged in 2020: the soaring inequalities, the climate disaster and the effects of a globalization that takes our breath away. COVID-19 puts into question most of the global health assumptions and reaffirms the political intuitions of the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration on primary health care, which positioned health at the centre of a public sector-led project for economic transformation and human dignity, based on human rights. The new coronavirus imposes a new sense of purpose to health policymaking, which is not yet captured in the current failed global response to the pandemic. This is also an opportunity for the international community that believes in public health and the role of public institutions, to re-imagine itself and project new creative ways to engage beyond classical models, so as to reconquer some ground for a healthier future.

[The late arousal of WHO on Ebola virus]. / Il tardo risveglio dell'Oms sul virus Ebola.

The late arousal of WHO on Ebola virus. The Ebola crisis brought to surface some problems in the coordination and readiness of the international community to face an infective challenge that, although originating in a part of the planet, could become a global epidemic. Ebola is still making victims and the answer to face and prevent future emergencies involves strengthening and upgrading of national health systems, investments in the education of doctors and nurses (many health professionals were victims of Ebola), in providing better salaries to attract more health professionals and a in a better and coordinated use of the army. A stronger WHO could play an important role.

[Ebola and the global governance of health]. / Ebola e il governo mondiale della salute.

The high state of anxiety about Ebola virus and its possible spread in the Western world has seemingly changed the route of the disease, for which effective vaccines and medicines do not exist. The rapid spread of the virus provides a paradigmatic narrative about the failure of today's governance for health, grounded on a series of global initiatives focussed on pathologies prioritized by the donors' community, at the detriment of health promotion and the strengthening of health systems in countries. The Ebola crisis also delivers a powerful account about the consequences of the de-potentiation of the World Health Organization (WHO), once the leading organization in public health policy-making. Today, the WHO is increasingly weak technically, politically and financially. While the virus remains out of control, the WHO's capacity to play a role in accompanying the development of the new essential vaccines and in brokering the conditions for accessibility and availability of the new medical tools remains to be questioned.