Moroccan Expert Joins WHO Panel Evaluating Global COVID-19 Response

In addition to the chief medical officer of Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca, there are six other experts including the South African Dr. Lucille Blumberg from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and Professor Amadou Sall, Director of the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal, according to a WHO press release. There are also five European scientists, including Professor Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute in Germany.

The American continent is represented by four experts, including Dr. John Lavery, Executive Director of British Columbia Health Emergency Management, and Professor James Leduc of the University of Texas. As for Asia, it is represented by the Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Professor Dexin Li and Myongsei Sohn, Professor Emeritus of the Yonsei University School of Medicine (Korea), reports the MAP.

"The International Health Regulations are the most important legal instrument in global health security," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said at a virtual press conference on Monday. The committee has the daunting task of evaluating the functioning of the International Health Regulations in the context of the new coronavirus in order to recommend "the changes deemed necessary," the MAP reports.

The goal will be to give the WHO Director-General "advice on the need to amend the IHR to make it more effective. During the press conference, Dr. Tedros hinted that "the committee will also communicate, if necessary, with other review bodies, such as the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response and the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme".