(Geneva) More than 50 former heads of state and government, and dozens of other dignitaries, launched a solemn and urgent appeal on Wednesday to WHO member countries to find an international agreement to prevent pandemics.
Discussions to find common ground on a common text before the May 2024 deadline are being held this week and next week in Geneva.
But, after several negotiating sessions, serious points of disagreement remain between member countries of the World Health Organization.
The signatories of the appeal therefore fear that the text will not be ready to be adopted during the World Health Assembly which will be held in May on the shores of Lake Geneva.
However, “an agreement on the pandemic is essential to safeguard our collective future”, write the signatories led by Gordon Brown and Helen Clark, who respectively led the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Only a strong global pact against pandemics can protect future generations from a repeat of the COVID-19 crisis, which resulted in millions of deaths and caused widespread social and economic devastation, not least through international collaboration insufficient.
Excerpt from the letter
Because they are convinced that a new pandemic will occur sooner or later, they warn the signatories: “there is no excuse for not being ready for it”.
“It is therefore imperative to develop an effective, multi-sectoral and multilateral approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,” they emphasize.
The idea of an international agreement on the subject was born in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agreement currently being negotiated would aim to guarantee better global preparation and a more equitable response to future pandemics, that of COVID-19 having quickly shown the limits of global solidarity with the appearance of the first vaccines, in insufficient quantities.
In January, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that all countries need the capacity to detect and share pathogens that pose a risk, as well as rapid access to tests, treatments and vaccines.
He also called claims circulating on social media and elsewhere that the deal would cede member states’ sovereignty to the WHO or give it the power to impose lockdowns and vaccination mandates “completely false.”