NGAIRE WOODS
© KIM PETERSEN/IMAGEBROKER/SHUTTERSTOCK
Lambasted over Covid-19, slow in its response to Ebola, and led by a man who once appointed Robert Mugabe as goodwill ambassador, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is under fire. President Trump has announced he will suspend US contributions, the largest single slice of its funding. But its many detractors offer no workable alternative. Without international co-operation, Covid-19 will not be beaten. Nor will a plausible exit strategy-or any return to sustainable economic growth-be possible. The WHO as we know it today took 170 years to build. Way back in 1851, countries started trying to find a way to co-operate in the face of infectious diseases, such as cholera and plague. During long sessions of International Sanitary Conferences, before and after the First World War, international rules were carefully worked out. But at every stage, co-operation was thwarted by disagreements among technical experts, by the costs of preventive measures, and by the shortsighted selfishness of many national governments.