After the failure of collective coordination to face Covid-19 five years ago, text instituted a more effective global coordination to detect and quickly respond to a future pandemic
The International Agreement on Pandemic Prevention and Cooperation was approved on Tuesday (20) in after more than three years of intense negotiations. “This agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. Collectively, it will allow us to better protect the world against future pandemic threats,” said WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, quoted in a statement.
The text was adopted in Geneva during the annual meeting of WHO member countries, and establishes earlier and more effective global coordination to prevent, detect and quickly respond to future pandemic. All after the failure of collective coordination to face the Five years ago, when developing countries faced a scenario of insufficient vaccines, accumulated by rich countries, as well as scarcity of materials to perform basic tests and inputs to care for patients, such as respirators.
The agreement seeks to ensure equitable access to health products in case of new pandemic. The pact adopted on Tuesday represents a success at the end of a difficult negotiation process, in a context of drastic cuts in the WHO budget, which becomes more and more crises.
And while the US departure from WHO, decided by President Donald Trump upon returning to the White House in January, only becomes effective in January 2026, Washington had already moved away from negotiations in recent months. The country did not send representatives to the meeting of the organization.
“The covid-19 pandemic was an electrochhoch. It has brutally reminded us that viruses do not know borders, that no country, however powerful, can face a world health crisis alone,” said the French ambassador to world health and negotiation co-president, Anne-Claire amprou.
*With information from AFP
