Report: WHO's response to swine flu flawed

LONDON -- An expert panel commissioned by the World Health Organization to investigate its handling of the swine flu pandemic has slammed mistakes made by the United Nations body and warned that tens of millions could die if there is a severe flu outbreak in the future.

The UN health agency established the review committee to evaluate its performance after the 2009 global outbreak of swine flu, or H1N1. In a draft report released yesterday, the committee said WHO performed well in many ways, but made crucial errors.

The group described WHO's definition of a pandemic and its phases as "needlessly complex," criticized the agency's decision to keep the members of its advisory committee secret, and said potential conflicts of interest among those experts, some of whom had ties to drug companies, were not well managed.

It warned that under WHO's health oversight, the world is not ready to handle a major health disaster.

Despite recent progress, "the unavoidable reality is that tens of millions of people would be at risk of dying in a severe global pandemic," the report said.

The report will be presented during a WHO meeting later this month in Geneva before being finalized. The expert group is led by Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine in Washington. WHO said it would comment on the report only when it is completed.

Swine flu was a mild virus and most people infected didn't need medical treatment. That led some critics to suggest WHO's declaration of a pandemic was the result of collusion with pharmaceutical companies, which made millions selling vaccines worldwide.

WHO denied pharmaceutical interests swayed its decisions, and said any potential conflicts were properly disclosed.