News outlets report on a speech by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan calling for the health agency to transform the way it responds to disease outbreaks.

Agence France-Presse: WHO calls for urgent transformation of global epidemic response
“The World Health Organization chief acknowledged Monday that the response to the West African Ebola outbreak fell far short, calling for an urgent overhaul of the international response to epidemics. ‘We need to put in place corrective strategies just as quickly as possible,’ WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told a committee created to review why existing international health regulations failed to prevent the deadly Ebola outbreak…” (8/24).

U.N. News Centre: Ebola aftermath is ‘best chance’ to transform future epidemic response — U.N. health agency
“…The review takes place at a time of nearly universal agreement that the international response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was inadequate. … Stating managing the global regime for controlling the international spread of disease is a central and historical responsibility of the WHO, Dr. Chan said ‘our challenge now is to look for improvements that leave the world better prepared for the next inevitable outbreak’…” (8/24).