After New York Times published an article titled ‘India Is Stalling the WHO’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public’ on April 16, India has shot back by sharing its concerns over the methodology adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the analysis.
On several occasions, it has already raised the issue with the other member states. It sent several formal communications including six letters, which were issued to the WHO. The matter was also pointed out in virtual meetings, Indian government said in a press release.
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In these exchanges, specific queries were raised regarding the methodology and use of unofficial sets of data by India along with other member states like Iran, Bangladesh, Syria, China, Ethiopia and Egypt.
The concern is that how the statistical model project estimates for a country of geographical size and population of India can also fit in with other countries, which have smaller populations. The WHO is yet to share the confidence interval for the present statistical model across several countries.
“The model also gives two highly different sets of excess mortality estimates of when using the data from Tier I countries and when using unverified data from 18 Indian states. Such a wide variation in estimates raises concerns about the validity and accuracy of such a modelling exercise,” the Indian government said.
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Although India has shared many concerns on several occasions, a satisfactory response from the WHO is still awaited.
The Indian government also said it believes in-depth clarity on methodology and clear proof of its validity are crucial for policy makers to feel confident about any use of such data.
“It is very surprising that while New York Times purportedly could obtain the alleged figures of excess COVID-19 mortality with respect to India, it was ‘unable to learn the estimates for other countries’,” the Indian government said.
After New York Times published an article titled ‘India Is Stalling the WHO’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public’ on April 16, India has shot back by sharing its concerns over the methodology adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the analysis. On several occasions, it has already raised the issue with the other member states. It sent several formal communications including six letters, which were issued to the WHO. The matter was also pointed out in virtual meetings, Indian government said in a press release. Also Read: Wishes pour in as Indian actor R Madhavan’s son wins silver at Danish Open In these exchanges, specific queries were raised regarding the methodology and use of unofficial sets of data by India along with other member states like Iran, Bangladesh, Syria, China, Ethiopia and Egypt. The concern is that how the statistical model project estimates for a country of geographical size and population of India can also fit in with other countries, which have smaller populations. The WHO is yet to share the confidence interval for the present statistical model across several countries. “The model also gives two highly different sets of excess mortality estimates of when using the data from Tier I countries and when using unverified data from 18 Indian states. Such a wide variation in estimates raises concerns about the validity and accuracy of such a modelling exercise,” the Indian government said. Watch: British PM Boris Johnson to visit India; agreements on defence, security & education likely Although India has shared many concerns on several occasions, a satisfactory response from the WHO is still awaited. The Indian government also said it believes in-depth clarity on methodology and clear proof of its validity are crucial for policy makers to feel confident about any use of such data. “It is very surprising that while New York Times purportedly could obtain the alleged figures of excess COVID-19 mortality with respect to India, it was ‘unable to learn the estimates for other countries’,” the Indian government said.