After the World Health Organization released an article titled “Uttar Pradesh going the last mile to stop Covid-19” on May 7, several media outlets and the Uttar Pradesh government claimed that the WHO praised the state government for its door-to-door Covid-19 surveillance campaign.
But WHO, in the article, merely speaks of its role in the programme. While all assumed that the health agency patted the state’s back for carrying out the “trace, test, track, treat” campaign, WHO spokesperson told FactChecker that “surveillance and monitoring are among key WHO roles” across the country.
After the May 7 article, WHO shared a tweet thread on May 10 showing its own groundwork where it “supported” the UP government by deploying “field officers on the ground to monitor and share real-time feedback with the government for immediate corrective action to ensure quality”.
Barrage of claims
This was followed by media outlets and the UP government and several of its officials repeatedly touting WHO’s article as a “praise” for the UP government for carrying out the campaign in rural areas.
Chief Minister Adityanath’s office also tweeted how the global health body praised the government’s efforts.
Misleading claim
However, this is mainly to showcase the WHO’s own groundwork which they had initiated for eradicating polio and which is being repeated for Covid-19. Although the WHO acknowledges the UP government’s assistance in this campaign, it does not say that it is the government’s strategy.
“Surveillance and monitoring are among key WHO roles in the field across the country. The WHO has a bigger team of medical officers and field monitors in Uttar Pradesh for several years now. The team was established to support the polio eradication programme,” the WHO said in a statement.
In the WHO’s response, the agency highlighted its efforts in previous vaccination programmes held in the state.
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