WHO's next? Changing authority in global health governance after Ebola
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4034377 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Colin Mcinnes (0000-0003-3611-6454, UNESCO Professor of HIV/AIDS and Health Security in Africa and Director of the Centre for Health and International Relations at Aberystwyth University., corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1299-1316 |
| Publication date | 2015-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-2346.12454 |
| PMID | 32287367 |
| OpenAlex | W2151256386 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 28 |
| References cited | 1 |
The World Health Organization (WHO) occupies a central place in the system of global health governance and plays a key role in the control of epidemics and pandemics. The 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa, however, saw widespread and sustained criticism of its performance, leading many to call for its reform and even replacement. This article moves on from initial analyses of the WHO's 'failure', to argue that the crisis has led to a shift in its authority as a global governor. It argues that the WHO's traditional basis of authority was largely expert and delegated; that it provided technical advice and normative guidance, and that its authority was 'on loan' from member states, who exerted considerable influence over the WHO. Its actions during the West African Ebola outbreak remained consistent with this, but it was unable to cope with what the outbreak required. The criticisms both of the WHO and the wider system of global health governance, however, have opened up a space where the balance of authority is shifting to one based more heavily on capacity-the ability to act in a crisis. If such a shift is realized, it will create different expectations of the WHO which, if they are not fulfilled, may lead to trust in the organisation declining and its legitimacy being compromised
Accountability · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Corporate governance · Economics · Global governance · Global health · Health care · Legitimacy · Management · Pandemic · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Medicine · Public Administration · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research
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Contesting Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions
World Health Organization (WHO)
Politicising pandemics
Ontological Securitization of Health in Africa
CHANS-Law
Governing Ebola
Ebola’s entanglements
WHO runs the world – (not) girls
Whose legitimacy beliefs count? Targeted audiences in global governance legitimation processes
Autonomy and international organisations
Evaluating crisis response speed of international organisations
Covid-19, the UN, and Dispersed Global Health Security
Feminist Global Health Security
Future-proofing global health
Cooperators or competitors? The interactions between WHO and the World Bank in global health governance
Systems analysis of the effects of the 2014-16 Ebola crisis on WHO-reporting nations’ policy adaptations and 2020-21 Covid-19 response
The Rise of Global Health Emergency Governance
The heart of bureaucratic power
Reimagining Global Health Governance in the Age of Covid-19
Share @WHO? Authority and Resonance in IO Social Media Communication
From Imperialism to the “Golden Age” to the Great Lockdown
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Epidemics (Especially Ebola)
| Citations per year | 3.11 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |