Ask HN: Is it time to start an apolitical, decentralized version of WHO?

11 points

6 years ago

There has been a lot of red flags on the WHO recently, from misreporting data [1, 2] to confusing guidance on masks [3] to the controversial case of Taiwan [4, 5].

Does anyone here feel that such bureaucracies wouldn't/shouldn't survive long? And that they could be easily replaced by an efficiently-operated, software-powered non-profit (something similar to Our World in Data)?

One starting point that I could get couple universities and hospitals behind is a simple portal for any medical staff around the world to report severe flu or whatnot cases (with anonymized record/evidence) that they suspect to be a stem for a new disease outbreak.

Would anyone here be interested in helping to build such initiative? Or any thoughts? Suggestions? Counter-arguments?

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-source-data#world-health-organization-who-situation-reports-our-previous-data-source

[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/14/asia/coronavirus-who-china-intl-hnk/index.html

[3] https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/03/11/whos-confusing-guidance-masks-covid-19-epidemic/

[4] https://in.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-taiwan-who/taiwan-says-who-not-sharing-coronavirus-information-it-provides-pressing-complaints-idINKBN21H1BS

[5] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/14/asia/coronavirus-who-china-intl-hnk/index.html

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