Media sources discuss papers published in a special issue of The Lancet examining global health security in light of the Ebola epidemic.

Agence France-Presse: WHO reform needed after Ebola failure
“…Researchers from the Washington-based O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law said the U.N.’s health organ urgently needed an injection of cash and expertise to boost its capacity and credibility. ‘Action now on WHO and other reforms to the global health system is crucial, before the political moment passes,’ the research institute’s Lawrence Gostin and Eric Friedman wrote in The Lancet medical journal…” (5/7).

CIDRAP News: Experts air Ebola lessons ahead of World Health Assembly
“…[A public policy paper by David Heymann of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and 23 other experts] touched on several themes addressed at a media Web briefing [Thursday] on the upcoming [World Health Assembly], at which delegates will consider several reforms for improving the global response to health emergencies such as the Ebola outbreak. … At [Thursday’s] briefing, sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Lawrence Gostin, JD, one of the Lancet report authors, said health leaders at the WHA have the critical task of strengthening the WHO’s capacity to handle such health emergencies, or else the global community will lose confidence in the public health system…” (Schnirring, 5/7).

Epoch Times: Four Reforms Needed to Handle the Next Big Ebola Epidemic
“When the biggest ever World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) meets in Geneva May 18–26, it will face a pivotal challenge: how to address the next big epidemic. ‘Ebola is now a wake up call. The question is, will the world hit the snooze button?’ said Josh Michaud, associate director of the Global Health Policy team at the Kaiser Family Foundation…” (Silver, 5/8).