Who’s really in charge of public health?
A new report examines how governments lost control over public health decisions—and what it means for the next crisis. I speak with Professor Ramesh Thakur for RCR.
A 200-page policy report argues that global public health is no longer being driven by the needs of countries, but by financial incentives.
At the centre of that argument is Professor Ramesh Thakur—a former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and principal writer of Kofi Annan’s UN reform report.
He spent years inside the system helping shape it. Now, he argues that in public health, global authority has gone too far.
Thakur says decisions have shifted away from national governments and towards international institutions—particularly the World Health Organization.
The report was developed by a panel of global health and policy experts, co-chaired by David Bell, a former WHO researcher who has been openly critical of pandemic responses.
They are not just calling for reform—they are questioning the entire model: how it’s funded, how decisions are made, and who is actually in charge.
