The WHO needs support to withstand political pressure from certain member states. There should be no space for doubt about the independence of the WHO’s leadership, particularly given the organisation’s important work during the pandemic. Working in a highly political environment and facing targeted attempts at influence by Beijing and other governments, the Director-General should be insulated from the need to campaign for re-election. Making key deliberations public would help to remove any...

The WHO needs support to withstand political pressure from certain member states. There should be no space for doubt about the independence of the WHO’s leadership, particularly given the organisation’s important work during the pandemic. Working in a highly political environment and facing targeted attempts at influence by Beijing and other governments, the Director-General should be insulated from the need to campaign for re-election. Making key deliberations public would help to remove any scope for undue influence. We recommend that the FCDO should support proposals to give the Director-General and other senior officials a single, non-ren Type: recommendation | Number: 4 | Response status: under_consideration Government response: We would like to see increased transparency of the deliberations of the Emergency Committee and welcome the call to adopt a more transparent approach, including providing more information on how decisions have been reached and on what basis. We are yet t