2024-03-27 17:44:16
More than 50 former heads of state and government, and dozens of other prominent figures, launched an official and urgent appeal, on Wednesday, to the member states of the World Health Organization to reach an international agreement to prevent the emergence of new pandemics in the future, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Discussions will take place this week and next in Geneva to find common ground on a joint text before the May 2024 deadline.
But after several negotiating sessions, there are still major points of disagreement between member countries of the World Health Organization.
Therefore, the signatories to the appeal expressed their fear that the text would not be ready for adoption during the World Health Assembly, which will be held next May on the shores of Lake Leman.
However, “reaching an agreement on the pandemic is essential to protecting our collective future,” the signatories to the appeal, led by Gordon Brown and Helen Clark, who led the United Kingdom and New Zealand respectively, wrote in a letter.
The letter continued: “Only a strong global pact against pandemics can protect future generations from a recurrence of the Corona crisis, which has led to the death of millions and caused widespread social and economic devastation, especially due to insufficient international cooperation.”
The signatories to the appeal expressed their conviction that a new pandemic will occur sooner or later, warning that “there is no excuse for not preparing for it.”
They stressed that “it is necessary to develop an effective, multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”
The idea of an international agreement on this topic was born in the wake of the Corona pandemic.
The agreement currently being negotiated aims to ensure better global preparedness and a more equitable response to future epidemics, after the epidemic quickly demonstrated the limits of global solidarity with the introduction of the first vaccines against the Corona virus in insufficient quantities.
In January, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that all countries need the ability to monitor and share dangerous pathogens, as well as rapid access to tests, treatments and vaccines.
He also described claims circulating on social media and elsewhere that the agreement would cede the sovereignty of member states to the World Health Organization or give them the ability to impose lockdowns and vaccination mandates as “completely false.”
Last updated: March 21, 2024 – 23:17
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2024-03-27 17:44:16