Link to Article- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/in-hunt-for-coronavirus-source-who-let-china-take-charge/articleshow/79016821.cms
In February 2020, when COVID-19 was just beginning to spread beyond its focal point of Wuhan, China; the World Health Organization (WHO) made plans to go to Wuhan and find the source of this virus in order for future prevention. This access was denied by China’s government; now nine months later, there still has not been an investigation conducted in Wuhan, China. Due to the lack of independent investigation, the WHO is facing major scrutiny from countries that would usually support them because the organization has been put in a position where they look like they are covering for China. Despite conspiracies against them, the World Health Organization is still continuing its attempts at gaining access to Wuhan and retrieving reports from investigations that China has already conducted themselves. Despite the WHO’s frustration with China for not allowing them into Wuhan, they only share progress with the media, hiding their true lack of progress. Recently, the organization released their plan for 2 phases of their investigation. The first phase will be conducted by Chinese scientists and reviewed remotely by other scientists; in the second phase, international experts will work alongside the Chinese to discover hosts of the virus.
The World Health Organization needs to start communicating more honestly with allies of their organization in order to maintain the support they have had. They have lost the trust of the United States government, causing them to pull out of the organization all together. There is currently a major lack of trust by other countries for the WHO and China. This lack of communication and trust aids the conspiracies and fear that rotate around COVID-19 and its origins. I believe that it is China’s responsibility to the rest of the world to allow the WHO to investigate the origins of the virus in Wuhan, but because of the way their government is run, it explains why they are mostly giving reports themselves. This conflict of interest between China and the many countries in support of the World Health Organization, increases tensions surrounding opinions on China. Many believe that China is being secretive because there is a possibility that COVID was man-made in a chemical warfare lab in Wuhan, China. Though there is virtually no proof of this, the lack of transparency by China has fueled suspicions for the origins of this virus.
The World Health Organization is an example of a service NGO, and the lack of information they are able to provide right now worries the countries that fund the organization, making this a possible collective goods problem. I believe the solution to this collective goods problem would be the principle of identity because it would be in the interest of the whole world for the organization to continue their efforts for discoveries about the origins of COVID-19. This solution would require all the countries involved in this conflict to care more about the global community rather than just themselves.