The WHO welcomed the report and says it is already moving forward on some of the recommendations.

Panel recommends urgent changes for WHO
 
An independent report on the Ebola crisis has recommended a series of urgent reforms to improve the global response to public health emergencies.

It states that the epidemic, which began in 2013 in West Africa, 'exposed organisational failings' within the World Health Organisation (WHO).

While the panel decided the WHO should be the lead health emergency response agency, it currently lacks the 'capacity and organisational culture' to deliver this.

Among other criticisms, the panel found the delay in declaring a public health emergency of international concern until August 2014 to be 'significant and unjustifiable'.

Lack of funding is said to have put the WHO at a 'severe disadvantage' - there are currently no core funds for emergency responses.

The panel, which was chaired by Dame Barbara Stocking, former chief executive of the charity Oxfam, recommended the development of a contingency fund for rapid responses, setting the target at $100 million.

The report also found a gap in the WHO's engagement with local communities and communication with governments and the public. It states that the organisation failed to establish itself as the authoritative body for communication on the Ebola crisis.

Some of the report's recommendations include:

• The creation of a WHO Center for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, overseen by an independent board
• Member states were urged to reconsider the decision not to move away from the policy of zero nominal growth, to increase assessed contributions by 5 per cent
• For the WHO to provide rapid, full information to governments and the public on the extent and severity of outbreaks

Image © CDC/Daniel J. DeNoon/Wikimedia Commons