World Health Organization

Huiyang ChenCommittee Parade1 Comment on World Health Organization
Topic: Prevention and Response Mechanism towards Health Emergencies
Working Language: English
Representation: 40, Single Delegation
Rules of Procedure: Modified Traditional Model UN Rules of Procedure
Time Frame: Aug. 2020
Operated Proportion: 1:1 (Real World: Virtual World)
Introduction:
Humanitarian crises affected millions of people every year, such as disease outbreaks, natural disasters and conflicts. These crises influence negatively the delivery of health services, leaving already vulnerable populations even riskier.
Now, we’re at a pivotal moment in the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China. A breathtaking disease, COVID-19, rises. While the virus originated around Wuhan, cases have also been reported in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, the U.S., Australia, France and a growing number of additional countries. More than that, the agony and terror brought by Ebola epidemic still strike and tease people in Africa. Those epidemics ever happened on earth (for example, Spanish influenza, Influenza A H1N1, Influenza H7N9) not only killed countless lives either gradually or immediately but also had the worst impact on the economic development, political stability as well as culture prosperity.
In response to health emergencies, World Health Organization established “Emergency Response Plans” in 2017, hoping to reduce the chance of an epidemic outbreak, wisely respond to current emergencies, and properly deal with afterward problems caused by the epidemics. Nevertheless, there still remain many problems to be solved in this newborn plan, including a unified response mechanism towards health emergencies, a unified accountability mechanism, a set of qualified working procedures, etc.
The Dais sincerely look forward to meeting all of you in Guangzhou this summer. With all your wisdom and passion, we have faith to construct a better framework for the Emergency Response Plans, and together, build a better and healthier world.
Dais Head:
林奕佟 香港中文大学（深圳）
杨洁滢 暨南大学
Dais Member：
陈汇洋 多伦多大学
宋天蓝 约翰斯·霍普金斯大学（2020年入学）

I.General review of COVID-19 Epidemic

A virus of unknown origin completely changed the year of 2020. From Wuhan to other cities in China, then too many countries and regions in the world, the virus spreads at an alarming rate, and so far there is no sign of a slowing-down trend.
On December 12th, 2019, the first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in Wuhan. In the following month, doctors who have noticed or contacted these cases reported the situation to the CDC and local government. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases increased gradually. Three days later, the government announced a lockdown of Wuhan, sealing off the city from all outside contact to stop the spread of the virus. Public transportation, including buses, subways, and airplanes, ceased to operate. On January 30, 2020, in merely ten days, the number of confirmed cases soared from three digits to four, reaching 9692 with 213 fatal cases. Such an astonishing rate of spread did not slow down at the beginning of February and even began to increase exponentially. On February 16, 2020, for the first time, Hubei Province reported no confirmed cases on that day. The spread of coronavirus in China began to slow down. At the beginning of April, there were only a scanty few confirmed cases in China, with just 2,000 people still in treatments. But meanwhile, coronavirus at the same or even more terrifying speed.
On April 3rd, 2020, the number of confirmed cases exceeded 1 million. In the United States, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and other countries with severe epidemic situations, the daily increase of diagnosed cases remains at four or five digits in the previous week. Moreover, due to the untimely prevention, social aging, and lack of medical resources, the mortality rate of coronavirus surpasses 10% in some countries.
On April 10th, 2020, nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases of COVID 19 have been reported to who worldwide, with more than 92,000 deaths.
Compared with the previous week ( April 3rd), the number of countries confirmed reached 210, with 537,262 new cases confirmed, an increase of 52.6 %, and 42,071 new deaths, an increase of 79.5%. The global epidemic remains grim. The cumulative number of confirmed cases in the U.S. state of New York this week surpassed that of the rest of the world.
In the past week, some of the worst-hit European countries, such as Spain, Italy, Germany and France, have shown signs of a slowdown. Meanwhile, outbreaks in other countries have accelerated dramatically. Especially in Africa, the virus is spreading to rural areas. We are now seeing clusters of cases and community transmission in more than 16 countries

II. What has been done by WHO?

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, WHO has continuously followed up the development of the epidemic and made great efforts in epidemic prevention and treatment. They release epidemic daily reports on their website. And they cooperate with international organizations to call for actions. For example, WHO and ICC issued a joint statement calling for unprecedented private sector action to combat COVID-19 on March 16th, so as to enhance everyone’s understanding of the novel coronavirus. Moreover, more than 50 organizations engaged in humanitarian work, including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Save Tthe Children, have collaborated on a new storybook to help children understand and accept COVID 19. Besides, The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the international council of nurses and the care now campaign, has produced a new report, the state of care in the world by 2020, which reveals that there are now fewer than 28 million nurses worldwide. Between 2013 and 2018, the number of caregivers increased by 4.7 million. But there is still a global shortage of 5.9 million caregivers, with the greatest shortfall in countries in the who region of Africa, Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, and parts of Latin America. Also, they issued health guidelines to assist countries in maintaining basic health services during the COVID-19 pandemic and worked with social media software companies (eg. Facebook) to reach everyone with knowledge and preparedness of the epidemic. Moreover, WHO has incorporated COVID – 19 vaccine research into its vaccine research program, the R&D Blueprint, and placed it at the top of its research agenda.
As part of WHO’s response to the outbreak, the R&D Blueprint has been activated to accelerate diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for this novel coronavirus. In order to improve coordination and fostering an enabling environment, the Blueprint will establish a Global Coordination Mechanism (GCM) to facilitate a regular dialogue among main stakeholders for both R&D preparedness and response. A database was set up to share out the newest information about vaccine development around the globe, so as to accelerate the impact of innovations for health. The scale-up of effective, quality health innovations requires a better understanding of barriers to implementation and uptake to reach the most vulnerable populations. WHO also supports research to address such barriers, strengthen primary health care systems, and innovate the delivery of interventions to achieve universal health coverage.

WHO will continue to update the dynamics of the outbreak, and we all look forward to that more efforts will be made by WHO and more organizations.

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III.What has been done by governments around the world？
I. National Policies
Being the origin of the detection of COVID-19, the Chinese government set the city Wuhan on lockdown on 23 January and started shutting down schools and public facilities as more cases were detected in different regions. The Chinese government also called for all citizens to stay home and wear masks when being outside. As the spread of COVID-19 went international, on 12 March, the Italian government declared a series of new national rules to ensure no domestic movement of people, including closing all non-essential businesses and prohibiting all public activities. The rules were executed by the local police force and military. People could be fined or even prisoned for not having a valid reason to be outside. Such strict measures were followed by countries hit by the epidemic seriously, including France, Germany and South Africa. Other countries around the world have closed businesses such as pubs and restaurants and schools, and the government urged people to stay home. However, most of the government stated that the practice of daily hygiene such as washing hands frequently would be more protective than wearing masks.
In order to deter infections from international travels, countries such as India, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan suspended all international flights, while other countries such as Australia, Brazil, the US, Canada, Malaysia did not allow passengers other than the national members or permanent residents to enter. As to financial support for individuals and businesses affected during the epidemic, most developed countries had already offered short-term financial aid plans that require applications. However, many developing countries, especially in Africa, did not have such plans. Countries like South Africa, Nigeria only announced similar plans, but the details related to accessibility and requirements were still unclear, making the funds currently unavailable. Meanwhile, the African governments promised to continue improving access of water, sanitation standard and communication. Recently, most of the countries were facing problems of medical resource shortage. Ventilators and personal protective equipment were highly demanded by countries with a large number of patients. China, which contributed to half the global production of face masks, had been increasing the production and exporting the equipment to the world. Yet it had been reported that some of the resources got kept or diverted by certain governments before reaching their original destination in Europe and North America. Meanwhile, under the pressure of resource shortage, some governments such as the US declared that they were no longer exporting essential medical equipment.
ii.International Organizations (Other than WHO)
The World Bank Group, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and the Group of 20 established health support operations to offer financial aids for countries having economic difficulties. They also provided investments on organizations such as International Organization for Migration (IMO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO). These organizations offered support in medical resources and improvement in training and equipment for local communities. Organizations and companies such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the GlaxoSmithKline, and Xiamen Innovax Biotech Co., Ltd.cooperated with various universities and scientists to develop vaccines through researches and experiments. The African Union had established continental strategies to help member states communicate and collaborate.

IV.Why do we need a more efficient public health emergency response mechanism?

There is still room for countries to strengthen their existing response mechanisms, as the negative impact of limited response mechanisms is relatively large. Strict prevention and control at the early stages can minimize the impact on people’s life safety and the normal operation of the economy. WHO has declared public health emergencies of international concern such as Influenza A virus, Zika, Ebola and COVID-19, all of which are associated with limited early response measures. For example, in the early stages of COVID-19, some countries had problems such as blurring priorities and limiting the intensity in response. Limited measures in early stages led to the rapid spread of the epidemic, resulting in citizens stopping the routine life and the economy experiencing virtual shutdown for months.
In actuality, the rapidly spreading epidemic poses a great challenge to policymakers. Measures such as social distancing and lockdown are effective, but similar measures do not have an absolute advantage. Whether the material reserves are sufficient, whether economic losses can be tolerated, and how to maintain social stability have to be fully considered. Meanwhile, the frequent global population movement has facilitated the rapid spread of the virus, which also requires countries to respond more quickly. According to the International Air Transport Association, the global average monthly passenger revenue kilometers in 2019 exceeded 700 billion kilometers, an increase of nearly 30% compared with five years ago, and an increase of more than 300% compared to 2003 when SARS was spreading. The well-developed transportation network and high-density personnel flow have helped the virus to spread rapidly around the world. Quite a few regions reacted slowly after learning about imported risks, and the epidemic gradually became out of control and developed into a global emergency.
If the emergency response mechanism is more efficient and complete, it can effectively prevent future regional health emergencies from developing into pandemics and provide references for issues such as natural disaster management. Open and transparent information release, timely and comprehensive communication, unified and coordinated medical resources and material reserves are recognized by international organizations and countries of codes of conduct. On this basis of the preceding, the empowerment of the disease control system, the establishment of the emergency command system at the national level, and the joint governance at the international level are also issues that need to be discussed and detailed. If we can improve the detailed system design and reserve during normal times, and resolutely implement corresponding measures in the early stages of future public health events, the impact of emergency events can be minimized. Meanwhile, emergency response systems for natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, and floods could also be more efficient. Given the correlation and various similarities between public health event response and natural disaster management, a resolution to improve the emergency response mechanism is believed to be able to provide references for global issues such as natural disaster management and benefit more people around the world.

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V.Now, what do we need to think about?

1. How to appropriately deal with response and guidance of public opinion, so as to avoid causing large-scale social panic?
2. If the epidemic situation continues for a long period of time, should governments keep providing financial aid for individuals and businesses?
3. Is it ethical for a country with adequate medical resources in treatment to completely close its border?
4. What can the World Health Organization do to help with the urgent global shortage of medical equipment?
5. What are the root causes of the drawbacks of the current response mechanism for public health emergencies?
6.In response to public health emergencies, how to improve the emergency response mechanism to facilitate prevention and control of the disease?

参考文献：

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