Talk:Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Worrying Political Attack

There is a very worrying tone throughout this article which reads like a political attack on the individual. I want to raise alarm that this content, which is inappropriate, misleading and one-sided, is doing a disservice to Wikipedia's reputation as a source of neutral content. SomewhereInLondon (talk) 14:00, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia documents what the reliable sources say about the topic. There is nothing called "one-sided" in Wikipedia policies. If there are other "sides" please present them. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 14:06, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

Yes, there are one-sided rules please see WP:NPOV, and WP:BLP. I've rewritten it. I dropped the NY Times referenced that doesn't even mention the WHO or Adhanom, and added the second side of things from the same BBC article that was already linked and was much more balanced than our coverage of it. - SimonP (talk) 15:28, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

You mean you have actually read the BBC article, but missed the remark:

Such comments [of "effusive praise"] sit uneasily with the knowledge that China arrested health workers who first raised the alarm about the outbreak.

I am afraid you can't drop the NY Times article, which documents China's suppression of information, which Tedros overlooked. And, what did you make of the Wall Street Journal article, which says among others:

"The WHO's message that no, don't anybody panic, keep travel flowing, keep the borders open, and then saying that we support the Chinese government is a mixed message," said Kelley Lee, a professor at Canada's Simon Fraser University who wrote a book on the WHO and co-established the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Change and Health.

And, your addition of the NPR source is pointless, because it doesn't establish that the WHO "long [called] on countries to take greater action". It only gives Tedros's claim that he had been calling for action. There is no information about what he had been caling for. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 20:52, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

References

Again I think your BBC article is well balanced. It notes that "there are virologists and epidemiologists, some of whom say the WHO's advice to member states to adopt "robust, aggressive" containment measures is too feeble, and others who say the WHO is over-reacting." For the politics it acknowledges that the decision not to criticize member states of the WHO might create as many problems as it solves. For the NY Times piece, the core issue is that while there is much speculation, there isn't yet any proof that China misrepresented what was happening. Early in the epidemic, at the same time the WHO was praising China, so were most western scientists. For example [1] - SimonP (talk) 21:56, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

"Tedros was widely criticized by the public". What public? You mean only people in the racist West are people, while people in the rest of the world are brainwashed automatons don't count? 2601:644:8100:7930:709E:E3AE:9CB:F446 (talk) 17:53, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

It's unsurprising that most criticism currently comes from first world countries many of which tend to be majority white, as these countries have far more international travel leading to a more rapid outbreak. The opinion of the public in African countries will change once they experience vast numbers of deaths in the coming weeks.

″Meanwhile, Dr Tedros has warned that the virus is now spreading rapidly in other countries. He highlighted Africa, where he said the virus had reached rural areas. "We are now seeing clusters of cases and community spread in more than 16 countries" on the continent, he said. "We anticipate severe hardship for already overstretched health systems, particularly in rural areas, which normally lack the resources of those in cities."″ 2A02:C7D:7662:BC00:3437:7B65:4B65:D4D (talk) 23:02, 10 April 2020 (UTC) Tedros had to be diplomatic with China to get information. The Guardian describes the process and its history with the previous SARS outbreak in detail, China held back information, Teros Adhanom personally flew there and finally got access for WHO to important information, 30 January the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern and began issuing prescriptions to countries around the world. [2] Trump said there would be no pandemic on January 22, Feb. 10: “I think the virus is going to be — it’s going to be fine.”, Feb. 24 (tweet): “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”, Feb. 28: “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”, March 9 (tweet): “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” [3] Supsudelu (talk) 16:48, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Why are you trying to deflect with Trump tweets? That is... "interesting". 207.216.153.13 (talk) 19:59, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

Attributing secret underlying motives to others, absent any evidence, is not a good way to get to the truth. This shouldn't be a surprise, but it turns out that media outlets in "first world" nations are staffed by people of many races, and employ journalists in countries all over the world. Also, the credibility and accuracy of a source isn't affected by the race of that source. Again, this shouldn't be a surprise. As the Director of the WHO, Dr. Tedros' actions are not immune from criticism simply because he is Ethiopian. Before you reflexively malign reliable sources as racist, xenophobic, bigoted, or having an underlying bias, please do the rest of us the favor of providing evidence.

2601:18F:4101:4830:4123:F108:D1BB:E331 (talk) 03:52, 12 April 2020 (UTC) 2601:18F:4101:4830:4123:F108:D1BB:E331 (talk) 04:11, 12 April 2020 (UTC) 2601:18F:4101:4830:4123:F108:D1BB:E331 (talk) 04:13, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

• I don't agree with the OP about the tone of the article. However, contrary to that, I am concerned that why we have made no mention of his controversial relationship with China and/or handling of coronavirus on lead. There should be some content about this on lead. CodeSlashh (talk) 16:20, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

there definitely needs to be a mention of his reference to the (dis)information which emanates from the Chinese Govt, the cover-ups, etc, and not just in the main body of the article. It’s extraordinary that a whole para is given over to his use of Taiwan as a smokescreen to deflect criticism. Fancy him doing that! Boscaswell talk 23:56, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Sanaitized his connection to Marxist regimes

This article sanitizes his connection to brutal Marxist regimes and their practices.

Also who sponsored his position to the WHO? That is not mentioned at all. SOmething is being hidden.24.139.24.163 (talk) 12:38, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

All the critics removed

Why all the criticism of this person was removed? They can only be found in the article history, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tedros_Adhanom&oldid=951129960#Controversies — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.67.29.61 (talk) 19:55, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

The criticism was not removed, but rather was incorporated into other sections to help follow WP:NPOV, as encouraged at WP:CSECTION. —Granger (talk · contribs) 23:00, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

Tedros Adhanom position attracted conspiracy theorists & they assigned him fictional roles in their silly covid-19 conspiracy theories. ToddGrande (talk) 17:13, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

First sentence: "Internationally recognized Microbiologist"

This is an unsourced claim on both counts. The current source refers to what seems to be Tedros' public health Master's thesis, which is not even proximate to the field of microbiology.

What are the standards for someone to be "internationally recognized"? It doesn't appear that Tedros Adhanom known for his academic work; if he is merely recognized due to his current appointment in the WHO, a different source would seem to be necessary.2600:1702:6F0:1690:A58D:83DE:F2C6:7CFF (talk) 06:00, 14 May 2020 (UTC)