The 194 member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrated on Saturday their desire to better prevent and better combat future pandemics and avoid serious mistakes made during the COVID-19 health disaster.
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the WHO meeting a week ago in Geneva, first decided to give itself more time – “a period of one year, or less” — to complete a pandemic prevention agreement that the States have been negotiating for more than two years.
They also adopted amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legally binding framework for responding to public health emergencies which had shown its limits during Covid.
The amendments introduce the notion of “pandemic emergency” and “more solidarity and equity”, according to the WHO.
“Tonight, we all won and the world won,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to a packed plenary room at UN headquarters in Geneva and to applause.
For him, “the question is not whether there will be a next pandemic, but when it will occur”.
Trump hypothesis
African countries wanted to complete the negotiation by the end of the year.
The fear of a re-election in November of Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the WHO and did not hide his contempt for the organization, looms over the discussions.
But Dr Tedros once again expressed his faith in a successful conclusion to the negotiations, despite the obstacles.
“Today’s historic decisions demonstrate the shared desire of member states to protect their own populations, as well as those around the world, from the shared risk of public health emergencies and future pandemics,” he said.
He judges that success on the IHR will give impetus to negotiations on a future agreement, which, “once finalized, could help prevent a repeat of the devastation caused” by COVID-19.
Shock
In December 2021, it was the shock of the health catastrophe in which the world was then plunged – which caused millions of deaths, damaged economies and paralyzed health systems – which had prompted WHO member countries to to launch negotiations on a binding agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Despite the achievements and rapprochements during the negotiations, the differences that persist will be difficult to overcome, particularly on the sharing of know-how and rapid access to the means to combat a new health crisis, questions of financing or intellectual property.
In developing countries, memories remain vivid of rich countries hoarding vaccine doses to the detriment of the common good and refusing to share their technologies.
They insist that the deal will be fair or it won’t be.
But “we saw flexibility in the best way to find a text that allows us to improve equity and access” to new products, underlined Precious Matsoso, who co-led the negotiations.
Pandemic emergency
The RSI was first adopted in 1969 and last updated in 2005.
But COVID-19 exposed the flaws in the system, with countries failing to respond when the WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, its highest level of alarm in January 2020.
It was only several weeks later that the head of the WHO created a salutary shock by speaking of a pandemic, allowing public opinion and States to realize the seriousness of the situation.
Negotiators therefore introduced a “pandemic emergency”.
“It’s about giving a signal, a warning and declaring it before this becomes a full-blown pandemic,” explained Ashley Bloomfield, co-chair of the RSI negotiations.
The reformed RSI also promise better access “to medical products and financing”.
Amendments also create structures which should make it possible to better prepare and better apply the regulation in all countries.
It is now up to them to insert the parts that suit them into their national regulations.
Not everyone shares the delegates’ enthusiasm and misinformation about the pandemic deal has reached new heights, fueled by conspiracy theories.
Hundreds of people came to demonstrate on Saturday to denounce the WHO and vaccines in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva.
However, Mike Ryan, the number two in the organization, does not reject them. “We want to hear all voices because all voices count, that’s the essence of democracy,” he said.
“We’re not trying to silence people, but what we want is a fact-based debate. »