VOA News: WHO Denies It Delayed Declaration of Ebola Epidemic
“The World Health Organization is vigorously denying accusations that it delayed declaring the Ebola epidemic in West Africa an international public health emergency for political reasons. An article by the Associated Press said secretly obtained e-mails of internal documents indicated the WHO was afraid that declaring a global emergency could set off alarm bells, which could hurt countries’ economies or interfere with the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. WHO’s spokeswoman on Ebola, Margaret Harris, told VOA that the assertion was categorically untrue…” (Schlein, 3/20).