"In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention," the UN's health agency said in a statement.
There is currently no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, and the WHO has declared the latest outbreak a global public health emergency.
But the use of an experimental drug called ZMapp on two Americans and a Spanish priest infected with the virus while working in Africa has opened up an intense ethical debate.
The drug, which is in very short supply, has reportedly shown promising results in the two Americans, but the priest has died, the Spanish hospital where he was being treated said on Tuesday.
US company Mapp Bioparmaceutical which makes the drug said Monday it had sent all its available supplies to west Africa.
Medical experts from around the world took part in WHO-hosted discussions Monday to draft guidelines for using non-authorized medicines in emergencies such as Ebola.
"Ethical criteria must guide the provision of such interventions," the panel found, stressing the need for "transparency about all aspects of care, informed consent, freedom of choice, confidentiality, respect for the person, preservation of dignity and involvement of the community."
The panel of experts also emphasized the "moral obligation to collect and share all data generated, including from treatments provided for 'compassionate use'," meaning access to an unapproved drug outside of a clinical trial.
The disease has infected 1,848 people and caused 1,013 deaths since early this year, according to latest figures from the WHO, which says it is worst outbreak since Ebola was discovered four decades ago.
The deadly outbreak has until now been limited to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, all countries in west Africa where ill-equipped and fragile health systems are struggling to cope.
WHO
Panel OKs Ebola drug as death toll tops 1,000
A panel of medical experts has determined it is ethical to provide experimental treatments to patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus, the Geneva-based World Health Organization said Tuesday as the global death toll topped 1,000.
ANGELA MERKEL
WHO to set up pandemic data hub in Berlin
The World Health Organization announced Wednesday it would set up a global data hub in Berlin to analyse information on emerging pandemic threats, filling the gaps exposed by Covid-19.
The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, which will start operating later this year, is set to analyse data quickly and in detail, in order to predict, prevent, detect, prepare for and respond to risks worldwide.
The hub will try to get ahead of the game, looking for pre-signals that go far beyond current systems that monitor publicly available information for signs of emerging outbreaks.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in the global systems for pandemic and epidemic intelligence,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.
“There will be more viruses that will emerge with the potential for sparking epidemics or pandemics.
“Viruses move fast. But data can move even faster. With the right information, countries and communities can stay one step ahead of an emerging risk and save lives.”
READ ALSO: ‘We are still in the third wave’: German Health Minister urges caution in reopening after shutdown
Merging digital, health expertise
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin was a good location for the hub as it already had leading players in the digital and health fields, such as the Robert Koch Institute.
“If that expertise is now supplemented by the WHO Hub, we will create a unique environment for pandemic and health research here in Berlin – an environment from which important action-oriented insights will emerge for governments and leaders around the world,” she said in a video message.
It is hoped that the site will be operational from September. Its budget is still under discussion, while Germany will meet the start-up costs.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said the world needed the capacity to detect outbreaks with the potential to become health crises “before the threat becomes a sad reality”.
Global systems were currently “insufficiently prepared” to handle the risks posed by outbreaks, mutations of existing pathogens, extensions of diseases to previously unaffected populations, and diseases jumping species from animals to humans, he added.
“There’s a clear need for a stronger global early warning alert and emergency response system with improved public health intelligence,” he said.
“Better data and better analytics are key for better decisions.”
Looking for pre-signals
“There are signals that may occur before epidemics happen… data that can give us pre-signals,” said WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan. That information could drive early decision-making, he added.
“The Hub will allow us to develop tools for that sort of predictive analytics,” he said.
A joint mission by international and Chinese scientists concluded in March that the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19 disease most likely passed to humans from a bat via an intermediary animal.
The experts’ report suggested the outbreak could have started as far back as September 2019, long before it was first detected in December 2019 in Wuhan.
The WHO only became aware of the new coronavirus on December 31st that year, when its epidemic intelligence service and its China office spotted a media report and a mention by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission of a mysterious cluster of pneumonia cases.
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 3.2 million people and more than 154 million cases have been registered worldwide since then, according to tallies from official sources compiled by AFP.
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