Comment on WHO pledges reforms as it admits Ebola mistakes

Geneva (AFP) - The World Health Organization's chief on Sunday admitted the UN agency had been caught napping on Ebola and pledged reforms to avoid similar mistakes in future.Despite turning a corner in the fight against Ebola, there was no room for complacency, WHO head Margaret Chan told a rare emergency session of the agency.Chan acknowledged blistering criticism that WHO's response to the epidemic had been slow and shoddy and called for a revamp of its crisis management techniques."This was west Africa's first experience with the virus and it delivered some horrific shocks and surprises," she said."The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us," she told delegates at only the third emergency session in the history of the WHO."The data tell us we have bent the curve and avoided the worst-case scenario," she said. "Ebola is a tragedy that has taught the world, including WHO, many lessons also about how to prevent similar events in the future," she said."Never again should the world be caught by surprise, unprepared."Chan also told AFP that "the priority in 2015 is to help countries get the Ebola rate down to zero."- $100-mln contingency fund -A resolution adopted at the end of the session called for the creation of a war chest to fight future epidemics with Britain immediately pledging $10 million (nine million euros).Chan said the overall aim was to create a contingency fund of $100 million, which would be "a good starting point".Other measures agreed upon included faster recruitment and deployment of frontline workers in future emergencies, the development of "quality, safe, effective and affordable vaccines and treatments", and streamlining and strengthening the WHO's response with the naming of a WHO special representative to coordinate and oversee the Ebola fight.