UPSC Mains 2020 GS Paper 2 Q9: model answer
Critically examine the role of WHO in providing global health security during the Covid-19 pandemic.
What the question wants
Critically examine how the WHO performed in providing global health security during Covid-19.
How to structure it
Critically examine: what it did, where it failed, reforms.
- Role
- Contributions
- Failures
- Reforms
How to think it through
Declared a public health emergency on 30 January 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March. COVAX and the ACT-Accelerator. Criticised for delay, deference to China and weak powers. Reforms: IHR amendments (2024), Pandemic Agreement (2025). The US exit in 2026 is the newest blow.
Model answer
The WHO declared Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March, weeks after the virus had spread worldwide. Its record in the pandemic is mixed, and the reasons are as much about its design as its conduct.
Contributions
- Technical guidance on testing, masks and treatment.
- COVAX, which delivered about 2 billion vaccine doses to poorer countries.
- Solidarity trials of treatments.
- Emergency use listing of vaccines, including India's Covaxin.
Failures
- Delay and reliance on China's early information.
- Weak powers: the IHR (2005) rely on states reporting honestly; no power to inspect.
- Vaccine inequity: rich countries hoarded doses, and COVAX missed early targets.
- Mixed messages on masks and airborne spread.
- Funding: most money is voluntary and earmarked by donors.
Reforms
- Amendments to the IHR (2024), in force from 2025.
- The Pandemic Agreement adopted in May 2025.
- Sustainable financing through higher assessed contributions.
The US withdrawal in January 2026 makes reform and wider funding more urgent. The WHO was necessary but underpowered.
Draw: A timeline of Covid milestones with WHO's actions above and criticisms below.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
PHEIC 30 Jan 2020, pandemic 11 Mar 2020, IHR 2005 and 2024 amendments, COVAX, ACT-A, Pandemic Agreement 2025, US withdrawal 2026, assessed vs voluntary funding.
Where most answers lose marks
- Only criticism. 'Critically examine' rewards contributions too.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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