The WHO's 'banish industry' ruse

David Zaruk has written a very nice five part blog post about the bonkers WHO proposal to treat all industries as 'health-harming' and banish them from policy-making. You can start with Part One. The following quote is taken from Part Five....

 

It is one thing though for an academic or NGO activist to demand that all industries be excluded from the policy process, and quite another for a UN agency responsible for global health policies to follow them down that rabbit hole. Given how beneficial the public-private partnerships have been for the WHO and global health promotion, publishing such a strategy report to try to break up all corporate engagement was both stupid and dangerous.

Perhaps the fact that this report was released via the WHO Europe office and not via the WHO international office is an indication of dissent at the highest management levels toward such a radical strategy. But until the WHO can seriously speak with a single voice, such folly will continue to destroy its trust and reputation. A new leadership needs to clean up the militant factions and ensure a responsible management of global health policy.

The first step is quite easy: remove their terrible strategy publication, commit to stakeholder dialogue and issue an apology.

 

I recorded a Swift Half with David in 2022 which is worth 30 minutes of your time.