WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, told The Associated Press he ordered the investigation in December into allegations detailed in several anonymous emails.
The emails from an unnamed source said African staffers at the WHO have faced “systematic racial discrimination,” and accused WHO senior officials of “attempting to stifle” investigations into Ebola funds that were allegedly misspent.
The anonymous author of one email called out a senior physician who helped lead the response to Ebola, calling his conduct “unacceptable, unprofessional and racist.”
Other anonymous emails accused the agency of “crooked recruitment and selection” processes “tantamount to fraud, corruption and abuse of authority.”
Dr. Tedros instructed David Webb, the director of the WHO’s office of internal oversight, to investigate the claims.
Mr. Webb and his team will investigate those claims and 150 others reported to his office in the last year, he said.
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