Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove: The 'Between Two Waters' Status at WHO

"Insider" voice

January 14, 2020 was a memorable day for Dr. Maria Van Kerkhov after more than 3 years working at the World Health Organization (WHO). It was the first day she appeared at a press conference in front of a large number of international reporters in her newly appointed position: Technical Expert in charge of the WHO's Covid-19 response campaign - the most important pillar in providing technical guidance to governments around the world.

That was also the day Maria Van Kerkhov became the world's most senior health expert to publicly declare that the Sars-CoV-2 virus can be transmitted from person to person - in stark contrast to the information posted by the WHO on Twitter that same day, that "preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus".

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove. Photo: AFP

Since then, she has become a celebrity in the global public health community, even among those outside the health sector, who look to the WHO for practical guidance from a top technical expert. A senior WHO official later told reporters that the organization’s Twitter feed was intended to keep Maria Van Kerkhov’s statements from straying too far from the official report the organization received from the Chinese government.

According to Maria Van Kerkhov, when it comes to a group of diseases that cause pneumonia or any other respiratory disease, the first thing that comes to mind is the possibility of human-to-human transmission. In fact, in the guidance documents from January 10, 2020, WHO mentioned precautions to avoid the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus through airborne droplets. But Maria Van Kerkhov also admitted that, right from the early days of the outbreak, it was difficult to quickly and clearly determine whether this virus was highly infectious or not, whether it would be like the viruses that cause SARS, MERS or more limited.

According to Maria Van Kerkhov, WHO’s internal research and responses are always more nuanced than what is publicly available. While WHO experts try to gather as much data as possible, they ultimately rely on information provided by member governments.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove is the most prominent figure at WHO press conferences.

Therefore, although there are still questions about the time when WHO officially announced that the Sars-CoV-2 virus can be transmitted from person to person, Ms. Maria Van Kerkhov still defended the way WHO responded to the Covid-19 epidemic in the early days of the outbreak. That is, WHO quickly established a Health Emergency Committee, despite some experts saying that the risk of a pandemic was exaggerated. That is, just 3 days after China announced cases of strange pneumonia, the first RNA sequence of the new virus was provided to public health laboratories around the world. That is, 4 days after isolating the RNA sequence of the virus, WHO provided test kits to member countries.

In addition, since the news of the strange pneumonia cases in Wuhan on December 31, WHO mobilized a network of experts around the world to collect information very quickly, focusing on similar viruses that caused SARS and MERS to issue the first guidance for global health systems on Covid-19 on January 10, 2020.

Choice by heart

The WHO's response in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic has been heavily criticized by US President Donald Trump, and is also the reason why the US decided to stop funding the organization. However, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that there will come a time when the WHO must review the entire response process to the Covid-19 pandemic, and review the responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals. But that is a job for later, when the pandemic is over, but now is the time for the whole world to unite to work together to deal with the pandemic.

President Donald Trump's criticism of the WHO does not affect the dedication of American medical experts working at the WHO. Photo: Financial Times

Forget political controversies, focus on epidemic prevention - that is also the immediate task of Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove and nearly 30 leading American medical experts working at WHO. Maria Van Kerkhove shared that she is a "patriot". But patriotism, in her view, means wanting the country to contribute more, to show a clearer role in the global effort against the pandemic. Therefore, she feels sad that WHO no longer receives funding from her homeland.

When caught in the midst of political controversies, and still choose to carry out the responsibility of a world-leading public health expert, thereby providing the most useful advice to the domestic government through the close cooperation that has been established over decades between WHO and the two leading US health organizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage in many countries, Maria Van Kerkhove's new day begins with an online meeting on Covid-19 management with heads of WHO working groups around the world. The next hour will be spent reviewing developments in other epidemics such as Ebola, yellow fever, malaria, cholera, etc. From 10 a.m. onwards, there will be a working session with a team of experts researching the Covid-19 pandemic to grasp the progress in vaccine or treatment research, meetings with senior health leaders of countries, etc.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove is responsible for issuing technical guidance to governments in responding to the Covid-19 epidemic, Photo: Global Times

Then, the WHO technical team under the direction of Maria Van Kerkhove will have to analyze and synthesize all the specialized information and turn it into the most specific and easy-to-understand guidelines for health systems from international, national to local levels. These guidelines will be announced publicly by Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO representative, in 3 press conferences each week. Like many other colleagues working at WHO, Maria Van Kerkhove's working day rarely ends before 10 pm.

Maria Van Kerkhove admits that facing and handling political crises is not her forte. But as the world faces the most serious health crisis since World War II, whether American or otherwise, the primary goal of health professionals at the WHO like Maria Van Kerkhove is to save as many lives as possible. And Maria Van Kerkhove believes that the Covid-19 epidemic will eventually be controlled, with trust and cooperation between governments and health professionals globally.