Head of WHO covered up epidemics in the past

Generally speaking the New York Times is less credible than those magazines you see in the checkout line at supermarkets.

But when they publish dirt on someone they later protect you can be pretty sure it's true.

In this case we're talking about Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the current head of WHO.

Back when he was a leading candidate the NYT published claims that Tedros had covered up three, not one or two but three, cholera epidemics in his homeland of Ethiopia when he was health minister.

While Tedros denies the accusations, which did come from the camp of a rival for the role of leading WHO, it's also true that we have evidence that in fact a coverup, or incompetence, did occur.

Back in 2007 an article documented how UN officials said there was an epidemic but Ethiopian health officials, led by Tedros who was Minister of Health at the time, said there wasn't one.

That it wasn't cholera but rather "acute watery diarrhea"; which to a layman sounds like another name for the same thing.

Just like the China virus the epidemic wasn't confined to one country but had spread to neighboring ones.

Ethiopian officials refused to share lab results with the UN

Why was Tedros covering up?  Because announcing an epidemic could have hurt the Ethiopian economy by reducing international trade and tourism.

The bottom line is that Tedros has a history of covering up epidemics in order to please his political masters so it's not particularly shocking that the WHO worked hand in hand with China to cover up the COVID19 / corona virus outbreak.

Of course we can be pretty certain that the NYT won't look to its own past reporting when commenting on the WHO's actions vis a vis the China virus.