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Taking stock of all that’s been achieved – and the partnerships working to end the pandemic.
India
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New Delhi, December 31, 2020 :
It was the scenario the public health community had feared for decades. A dangerous virus emerges. It spreads rapidly around the world.
COVID-19 infects people when they come together, but coming together is also how we will beat it. 2020 saw the world unite against the virus, from small personal gestures to protect others, to international collaboration on research and innovation. The year ends with COVID-19 vaccines rolling out – an extraordinary feat.
Science, solutions and solidarity have been WHO’s tools for addressing the biggest health threat of the past century – this is the story of the response we built with them.
This isn’t the first time WHO has responded to a pandemic, and it won’t be the last – but COVID-19 is the most challenging crisis we have ever faced.
On 30 January 2020, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The declaration is WHO’s highest level of alarm – a rallying call to all countries to immediately take notice, and take action.
Countries looked to WHO for guidance on how to confront an unknown virus and WHO answered the call. Within two weeks of first learning of this new disease, WHO published its first set of advice to countries on how to test for the virus, treat patients, keep the public informed and prepare for more cases.
WHO also leveraged well-established scientific relationships and connections to facilitate the rapid development of vaccines, treatments, diagnostics and other tools. The first lab test for COVID-19 was developed just days after scientists shared the genetic sequence, and the first test kits were shipped out to labs around the world within weeks.
Delivering knowledge and supplies
In 2020, WHO sent lifesaving supplies and equipment around the world and reached billions of people with critical information about the evolving nature of the virus, and how to protect themselves.
The COVID-19 Partners’ Platform heralded a new model of health crisis engagement, by enabling over 150 countries, UN entities and 900 partners to coordinate actions and resources together in real time.
Ensuring access to vital resources
Protecting health workers who risked their lives to fight the pandemic was one of WHO’s biggest priorities. The pandemic caused an acute shortage of essential supplies, so a COVID-19 Supply Chain System was established to fill gaps, ensure quality and help countries navigate supply chains.
Travel restrictions and reduced flights put immense pressure on global supply chains in 2020. Logistics teams worked around the clock to get response supplies to those who needed them most.
While the need for masks is well known, a less publicized but equally vital resource is medical oxygen, which helps severely ill patients breathe and potentially avoid intubation.
The production and delivery of medical oxygen was a challenge worldwide even before the pandemic, as it is often left out of hospital budgets because demand can be difficult to predict.
In responding to COVID-19, WHO has procured and distributed oxygen supplies for vulnerable countries. By December 2020, WHO had sent more than 16 500 oxygen concentrators and 40 000 pulse oximeters and oxygen monitors to 121 countries. These devices will bring broader health benefits, for example to children with severe pneumonia, people undergoing surgery, and pregnant women.
WHO is also working with countries such as Papua New Guinea, Ukraine, Somalia and South Sudan on a more sustainable solution to rising demand: oxygen generation plants.
Getting the message out
Around the world, people were hungry for clear, accurate and useful information. Starting with our first Disease Outbreak News at the beginning of January, WHO has met the demand, releasing over 200 daily situation reports, followed by nearly 40 weekly epidemiological and operational updates. WHO updates its COVID-19 dashboard daily to provide a real-time snapshot of the pandemic.
Committed to helping frontline responders safely take on the pandemic, we provided free online training courses through our OpenWHO platform.
The media have also been a key audience and partner. WHO shared the latest developments on COVID-19 during over 130 briefings for journalists. WHO leadership also participated in other public forums, including over 50 weekly #AskWHO Q&A sessions on social media, and 19 podcasts and videos in our Science in 5 series explaining the science related to COVID-19 to the public.
WHO is also engaging new audiences with key partners including the Wikimedia Foundation, companies like Facebook (Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp), Google, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter and Viber. We’ve also linked up with the creative talents behind beloved characters, including the Minions and Peppa Pig.
Increased outreach was especially vital given the infodemic – the flood of information on the COVID-19 pandemic. Not all of it was reliable, with harmful rumours and misinformation about the virus.
In early February, WHO launched its Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, which outlined key public health measures, to guide the efforts of national and international partners.
Through our 150 country offices and six regional offices, WHO has worked hand in hand with politicians, health workers, hospital directors, communicators, logisticians, lab technicians and more. We sent virtual and in-person missions of experts at the request of countries around the globe.
The heat of a response is the best time to judge performance and course correct. Over 30 countries invited WHO to do just that, in a process called intra-action reviews: determine what went well, then figure out what to fix now and how to better prepare for next time.
WHO also supported the deployment of 70 Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) to countries, while 840 national teams were mobilized using the EMT methodology.
But health workers remain the backbone of the COVID-19 response around the world. In some places they had to temporarily shift their focus from responding to other diseases, such as polio. Over 30 000 polio personnel in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and South Sudan tracked potential COVID-19 cases, traced contacts and shared information with communities. In Pakistan, polio data management systems enabled better case detection and were used to help fight COVID-19 misinformation.
WHO provided technical support, virtual training, equipment and supplies to boost testing capacity around the world. For example, when COVID-19 first emerged, Somalia did not have molecular testing capacity – but by the end of 2020, six labs in Somalia could do this kind of testing.
Leaving no one behind
WHO leads a COVID-19 crisis management team that works with 23 UN partners. WHO has also collaborated closely with the wider UN family on the Global Humanitarian Response Plan, to address needs in over 60 countries contending with humanitarian crises exacerbated by the pandemic.
WHO has helped drive the agendas of the UN framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19 and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
In the most challenging settings, WHO works hard to keep essential health services running. Throughout the pandemic, we have worked with countries to keep hospitals and clinics open to patients suffering from other diseases. WHO has also supported countries to keep routine childhood immunization going and help mothers give birth safely.
We’ve also stepped in when other emergencies strike. A day after an explosion devastated the port in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, a plane carrying 20 tonnes of WHO health supplies landed in the country. WHO also set up an appeal and collaborated with partners to provide follow-up care for the injured and mental health support for health workers, as well as expanding COVID-19 testing and treatment.
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