Report/essay on International Relations and Health Crises: WHO's strategic role in the era of COVID-19

Contexts

This essay will discuss the actions of the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent COVID-19. To be specific, this essay connects the frustrations caused by the global health regimes and organizational actions taken to respond to the pandemic situation in 2020 (Alvarez, 2020). Research claims that there is a paradox in international organizations' laws when analyzing their normative activities (Klabbers, 2019). This essay will take WHO as the international organization and will analyze its case related to Covid 19. The WHO is considered the cornerstone of global health governance and took a lead role in the international responses to public emergencies like: Covid 19 (Müller, et al. 2021). Furthermore, the striking event of the Covid 19 has highlighted the issue of the balance of power politics, as China and USA relationships were intensified, due to the pandemic. As history records, power competitions have a substantial impact on the international relation and international law, including the context of the healthcare sector and related organizations (Fidler, 2020).

WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) and was established on 7th April 1948. It has an international goal to achieve the highest level of health solutions and facilities for all people (Müller, et al. 2021). Throughout its history, the WHO has played a key role in implementing health practices and policies. Also, it has developed coordination and association with members and non-members to make relevant decisions and to implement better health programs and precautions to swiftly respond to any global health crises, like Covid 19 (Müller, et al. 2021). In the past, WHO has also managed and developed new health policies to control many severe diseases including smallpox, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, etc. This case also highlights the importance of international collaboration. The formation of several organizations, supported by the WHO has helped to coordinate and take international measures to deal with the threats of Covid 19 (Momtazmanesh, et al. 2020). 

According to (Fidler, 2020), the pandemic has created international politics and legal controversies that have also affected the host organization (WHO). Past research has revealed that this case has revealed a lot about international organizations and their weaknesses and post-World War 11 international law and order crises (Alvarez, 2020). On 31st December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified first in China. On 30th January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a virus in China as Covid 19 to be a public health Emergency of International Concern. The virus poses a high risk to different countries with vulnerable healthcare systems (Sohrabi, et al. 2020). Also, a pandemic is not like other public health concerns, it can trigger disastrous socio-economic and political crises in the infected countries. Therefore, Covid was not only an international public health issues, it was also a national issue for almost all countries of the world (Chakraborty, & Maity, 2020). However, the cases, and severity of the pandemic varied in all countries. For example, the survey conducted by WHO after the outbreak of Covid 19, in 200 countries. It was revealed that 200 countries regions have confirmed Covid 19 cases, but YSA was top of the list, followed by Spain and Italy (Chakraborty,  & Maity, 2020), as shown below:

(Source: Chakraborty, & Maity, 2020)

The national and government responses to the pandemic situation, caused by Covid 19 varied from country to country. This also caused political problems, along with public health tragedy. This showed that many nations were not prepared to deal with these international public health issues (Davies, & Wenham, 2020). Although, WHO has tried to coordinate with all international and national public health committees, this case highlights the lack and importance of international law, relations, and policy coordination (Alvarez, 2020). Some countries faced challenges in implementing effective public health measures, due to lack of resources or expertise. While, some countries were able to adopt preventative measures to control the virus (Flip et al. 2022). This required the cooperation and collaboration of national and international organizations and bodies. For example, at the national level, many countries in association with WHO initiated educational programs to enhance public awareness of the masses.

While at the global level, WHO shared testing kits, vaccinations, and personal protective equipment (PPE) for more than 120 countries. Not only this, WHO imposed interim guidance and policies related to Covid testing and diagnostics methods, to unify the vaccination and testing methods, all around the world (Momtazmanesh, et al. 2020). This shows that WHO played a crucial role in guiding member states in adopting best practices for managing the pandemic at the national and international levels (Alvarez, 2020). Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) has faced organizational challenges in terms of leadership, lack of expertise and reaffirm its authority in the field of global health. Additionally, WHO has faced criticism for its handling of the pandemic (Alvarez, 2020). Mainly, due to delays in declaring COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and other delays in recommendations and precautionary measures (face masks, quarantine, travel restrictions, etc.) (Gruszczynski, & Melillo, 2022). This criticism has led to the reviewing and evaluation of the International Health Regulations and the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR). This highlighted that international law and policies need improvement and recommendations in both national preparedness and international cooperation in pandemic response (Gruszczynski, & Melillo, 2022).

 According to (Huang, 2023), during the COVID-19 era, several international law issues have emerged, reflecting the challenges faced by WHO and other organizations, at national and international levels, in responding to a global health crisis. Research identified that there was a lack of effectiveness in the legal framework and legal leadership (Sohn et al. 2021). For example: the International Health Regulations (IHR), caused problems for the WHO in controlling the COVID situation, promptly (Huang, 2023).  Furthermore, research has found conflict between the regional laws and the international laws, which are determined to protect human rights and have enough public health measures, as they faced challenges for international organizations, like WHO to deal with such pandemic situations (Van Hout, & Wells, 2021).

Actors and interests

In the context of the World Health Organization's response to the coronavirus, several major actors and interested parties were involved, including states, international organizations (IOs), and non-state actors. Furthermore, the coronavirus has underscored the need to improve the international healthcare systems and international law to deal with such a pandemic situation. Different actors were involved in the case of Covid 19, based on three sectors: public, private, and civil society El-(Jardali, et al. 2024).

State Actors

According to (Jardali, et al. 2024), when it comes to state actors, it shows a strong presentation of different ministries in the national response of different countries, where the prime minster or president is the key player. Based on the WHO dashboard, 775 m cases have been reported till now. Where, the largest number of cases were reported in the USA (103 m), China (99.4m), India (45m), etc. (WHO data, 2024), as shown in the chart (appendix). However, the total regions affected are presented below: