Coronavirus: WHO in need of reform, says Liberal MP Dave Sharma

Liberal MP and former diploamt outlines his vision for a reformed WHO which must be granted greater powers.

Liberal MP Dave Sharma. Picture: Kym Smith

The World Health Organisation must be transformed into a powerful international body capable of imposing spot checks and inspections on member states if it is to be effective in avoiding another ­global pandemic.

Liberal MP and former diplomat Dave Sharma has said there was a clear need for reform of the organisation, which has come under fire following its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Sharma said one option would be to transform the body into something resembling the Nuclear Non-Proliferation ­Treaty, which imposes mandatory reporting requirements on all member states. “Nuclear material is exceptionally dangerous but on the scale of international peace and security this is one of the largest threats we’ve seen in several decades,’’ Mr Sharma told The Australian. “I think there’s a case to be made that you need a WHO with a stronger reporting and compliance ­process.’’

Mr Sharma said the WHO needed to display more intellectual rigour and greater political ­independence.

He cited the agency’s readiness to repeat assurances coming from China that the virus was under control, assurances that proved to be disastrously wrong.

“I think there is enough credible evidence that the WHO didn’t apply sufficient scepticism and rigour to some of the official data they were getting from China,’’ he said.

Mr Sharma’s comments came as the WHO found itself under mounting pressure over its handling of the crisis, which has so far infected more than two million people and killed nearly 140,000.

On Wednesday, President Don­ald Trump announced the US would halt funding to the organisation, citing what he said was its failure to properly vet information coming out of China in the early stages of the pandemic.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who in March was stricken with the virus, said the WHO’s insistence that so-called “wet-markets’’, where the coronavirus is thought to have originated, should remain open was “a huge mistake’’.

“We’ve got to call any of these organisations out when we see it and there are other bodies within the UN that, I would argue, aren’t acting in the global interest, aren’t acting certainly in the interest of countries like Australia,’’ he said.

“I think there’s been a big wake-up call out of coronavirus. If there is some silver lining to a horrible situation, it is there’s going to be a reassessment of some of these ­actions … I think the public would demand nothing less than that.’’