WHO leader backs “pandemic pact” to deal with future outbreaks Coronavirus pandemic News

The head of the World Health Organization has called for speedy negotiations around the world to agree on an international pandemic preparedness pact as part of the far-reaching reforms planned by member states.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director general, told the annual meeting of ministers on Monday that the United Nations health agency has a “serious challenge” to maintain its COVID-19 response at the current level and that it needs sustainable and flexible funding.

Earlier in the day, health ministers agreed to study recommendations for ambitious reforms by independent experts to strengthen the capacity of both the WHO and countries to acquire new viruses.

Ministers from 194 WHO member states will meet from 29 November to decide on the launch of negotiations on a pandemic treaty.

“In my opinion, the recommendation that the WHO and the world will do as much as possible to strengthen global health security is the recommendation of a pandemic preparedness and response agreement that can also strengthen relations and foster cooperation between member states.

TEDROS said in its closing remarks at the WHO annual virtual health assembly that the “lack of sharing of data, information, pathogens, technologies and resources” was the hallmark of the pandemic.

“A [pandemic] the treaty would promote better sharing, trust and accountability, and provide a solid foundation for building other mechanisms for global health security. “

Only two international treaties have been negotiated before the WHO under its 73-year history: the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003 and the International Health Regulations in 2005.

Chronovirus has infected more than 170 million people and killed nearly 3.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins University accounts.

More WHO funding

On the last day of the week-long meeting, WHO member states agreed in a 14-page resolution that “strengthening the WHO’s capacity to assess disease outbreaks quickly and appropriately” could be a worldwide concern.

“It is essential to strengthen global surveillance (of disease) and provide the World Health Organization with the authority and capacity to make this important work available to all peoples of the world,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the assembly.

According to the findings of the three independent panels reported to the Assembly, the countries and organizations have been unhappily prepared to deal with COVID-19. They called for a complete overhaul of the global alarm system, and a stronger and more independent WHO to help prevent future pandemics.

One of the reports claimed that the UN agency was too slow to claim a so-called International Public Health Emergency. The WHO issued the highest alert level on 30 January 2020.

After discussion for days, members agreed to create a new working group to review and mitigate the many recommendations in the reports and create specific proposals for next year’s meeting.

The text called on member states to “ensure adequate, flexible, sustainable and predictable funding of the WHO program budget”.

About 16% of the WHO budget comes from regular membership fees, with the rest coming from voluntary and highly targeted contributions.

Monday’s resolution also called on all countries to strengthen their basic public health capabilities, increase their ability to detect new threats and communicate these threats effectively both domestically and internationally.

WHO Emergency Management Director Mike Ryan is pleased with the decision, saying: “Right now pathogens are predominant, they are more and more often silent on a planet out of balance.

“We need to become the same thing that revealed us in this pandemic, our interconnection, we need to turn that into a force,” he said.

Chilean Ambassador Frank Tressler Zamorano, on behalf of 60 countries, said a pandemic treaty would “heed the call made by so many experts to restore the system.”

Meanwhile, the resolution did not explicitly support the experts ’recommendation that the WHO launch broader powers to launch research or communicate about health threats without waiting for the green light from the countries concerned.