30 July 2020 - - US-based global AIDS organisation AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is calling on former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberia president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-chairs of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), to ensure an impartial evaluation of the World Health Organization response to COVID-19, the organisation said.

According to the group, it is imperative that the panel consist of a range of truly independent global public health thinkers from diverse fields who are free from influence from the WHO, its director-General or member states.

During and after the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola crisis, several independent panels were formed to evaluate the global response to that disaster; however, none were chaired by former heads of state and all panels concluded with recommendations of reforms of WHO.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.4 m people in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe.