INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sunoor Verma, a global health practitioner who has advised WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, HUG-Geneva, and Cambridge University on
strategy, leadership communication, advocacy, and resource mobilisation, talks to The Himalayan Times about how COVID-19 has affected our
lives, what lessons low income countries can draw from it, and the post-COVID world order
He divides his time between the foothills of the Jura Mountains in France and Budhanilkantha in Nepal.Excerpts:
rights declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, in countries from Angola to the US to New Zealand
Hell hath no fury like the volcano: The anatomy of nature's ire
In an interview with THT in March 2020, your predictions on how COVID will play out came true
So in these two years, what has changed globally in the business of health?
It seems to me that COVID-19 has shown
countries, policymakers, technocrats, businesspersons, and the media the mirror
And the picture in the mirror was far from pretty.Years of under-investment in health as public service and health professionals have
brought us to despair.We also saw that when there is strong cooperation between high-income countries and multilateral agencies like WHO,
there can be accelerated solution-finding, as is the case with vaccine development.At the same time, we see that not much has changed on the
The rich controlled the allocation of essential COVID-19 supplies.The helplessness of the poor both as individuals and as countries and
their dependency on acts of charity by rich countries is one strong memory of the last two years.I believe that what has also changed over
the previous two years is the frivolous questioning of WHO's relevance
The UN's health agency has long been the favourite punching bag of health stakeholders
With all the shortcomings that any membership organisation faces, WHO has shown that it is more than a normative and standards body
Its power of convening health actors has been hugely visible and effective in these past two COVID-19 years
I often see low-income countries vent on UN agencies for their miseries, especially the WHO
This is because they cannot box donor countries as they welcome the bilateral money that flows from them
Many member states ask WHO to be stronger, wiser, braver, etc
They must realise that WHO is the sum of the strength of its member states
For low-income countries, the only way they can contribute to WHO's strengthening is by making their health systems solid and practical for
the commoner.What are the lessons for low-income countries from the last two years of COVID-19?Negotiation from a position of poverty is a
Least so during a global crisis
While globalisation has been much celebrated, the poor have not benefited proportionately
I hope developing countries learn that health must transcend nationalism and regional alliances must be made as disease crosses borders
Instead of each country reinventing institutions, regional health resources must be shared
They should be recognised and shared regionally by setting up laboratories, training facilities, stockpiling drug testing, and
registration.It is a pity that regional fora such as SAARC have not developed to their potential and the topic of health remains rudderless
Once again, with the facilitation of bodies like WHO, there was support for utilising the capacities of member states during COVID-19
However, these should be a reflex of countries and not the cajoling of international bodies.Another vital lesson is the importance of
activating existing emergency and disaster mechanisms over inventing new structures on the go.Some countries learned that emergencies are
not the best time for adventure but rather for tested mechanisms.As you work closely with leaders and elected officials on strategy and
leadership communication around the globe, what lessons are there from COVID-19 for leaders?COVID19 has shown the importance of leaders
exercising leadership.Occupying a leadership position is no guarantee of leadership.There is ample evidence and peer-re- THT viewed research
that countries where women have been in leadership positions on COVID-19, have fared better in their response
Power asymmetry against women in our countries in South Asia is a barrier to our emergency response, development, and prosperity
Excluding women from the top-tier decision making has been a blunder that ought to be corrected for future emergencies
An important message for leaders is that excluding women from decision making is foolish and expensive
Donors should make grants available only subject to at least a fifty per cent representation of women in the steering committees of any
project they fund in recipient countries.Second, leaders have seen that undisciplined, unplanned, and unverified communication during health
crises leads to the death of people.Third, communicating science and scientific messages to a broad and diverse audience is a challenge and
is beyond the scope of many politicians and leaders
Either they should follow advice and scripts prepared by experts or appoint their own 'Faucis' and let them do their job without
interference.The top communicators on COV- ID-19 among leaders have been the former Chancellor of Germany and the Prime Minister of New
Zealand.While Mrs Angela Merkel, a scientist, simplified complex data for her citizens in direct telecasts, Ms Jacinda Ardern showed
unprecedented transparency in decision making
If you don't understand science, don't deny it, or twist it, but appoint experts to communicate it and let them do their job.Another lesson
for leaders, I hope, is that they must be unifiers and not dividers in crisis
When people suffer, the last thing they want to see is their leaders' bickering
The ability to transcend petty politics and create an environment of a unified national response is critical
Unfortunately, few leaders around the world have achieved this feat during COVID-19.In the post-COVID-19 world order, are multilateral
agencies like WHO still relevant? Does their role need to evolve?Close your eyes for thirty seconds and visualize COVID19 without WHO.The
question of relevance arises only if there is an alternative
In a world divided along the axis of income, gender, faith, ethnicity etc., the importance of a convener and facilitator is critical
WHO has outstandingly supported countries in their COVID-19 response, especially for an underfunded organisation
Do such agencies need to evolve or transform? Yes, of course, we all need to evolve constantly
High-income countries that fund much of the budget of WHO should want a transformed organisation and support that journey consistently and
systematically.Low-income countries should better appreciate the richpoor power asymmetry more realistically and temper their expectations
accordingly.I also feel that a new kind of expertise is needed in the global health arena.While countries do need the norms and
standards-setting coming from an apex body, however, their country-level implementation requires more than technical expertise.It requires
coalition-building and diplomatic talent to help countries navigate their factions and mazes.Twenty years ago, people expected disease
elimination from WHO; today, they expect WHO also to deliver health and well-being
This warrants an ability to look beyond WHO's traditional matrimony to government health agencies and forge partnerships with the custodians
of national finance, policy planning, youth, education, and technology.Finally, for any international agency, it is crucial to set clear
criteria on when to exit a country, announce it and try to adhere to that handover.How many flags you can pin on the world map should not
matter in a Zoom world.Lastly, what conversations are essential now, drawing from the COVID-19 experiences as a society or global
community?A core question that societies need to debate is what should remain in the public sphere and what in private? We have seen that
countries with a robust public system of services have done much better in their emergency COVID-19 response
This is an important question, especially for low- and middle-income countries with an urgency to privatise public institutions and services
in a call for greater efficiency
Some countries that advocate privatisation in aid recipient countries have maintained solid public service systems in their own countries
So, this needs to be an organic debate in situ.At the citizen level, I hope we will appreciate that Health is Politics.Voters would need to
demand of their politicians the fundamental right to good quality health, education, and nutrition
And hopefully this is what the ballot would be cast on in future.A version of this article appears in the print on April 22, 2022, of The
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com