03/29/2024 – 0:00
The 194 member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) failed, this Thursday (28), to reach an agreement on the management of future pandemics and will resume dialogues in April, in a final push after two years of negotiations.
Member states of the UN health agency have been trying for two years to develop an international agreement to prevent and respond appropriately to future pandemics.
The objective is to avoid the costly and deadly mistakes of the Covid-19 pandemic, which severely affected economies, weakened healthcare systems and killed millions of people.
While countries generally agree on what should be done when the next pandemic emerges, they continue to differ on how far they are willing to go to turn proposals into binding commitments.
The ninth and supposedly final round of talks, which began on March 18, ended this Thursday without any progress.
“They are not far from reaching an agreement,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva.
“The treaty is an instrument that saves lives, not a simple piece of paper,” he added. “It has the power to transform our collective response to future pandemics, protect lives and safeguard the well-being of communities,” he continued.
Tedros urged countries to reach an agreement by the end of May. The new negotiations will take place between April 29th and May 10th.
The main topics under discussion include access to emerging pathogens, better prevention and monitoring of disease outbreaks, financing and technology transfer to poor countries.
European countries want more money to be invested in preventing pandemics, while African countries are asking for more knowledge and financing, as well as adequate access to vaccines and treatments.
The United States wants to ensure that all countries quickly share information and samples from new outbreaks, while developing countries push for equity guarantees so as not to be left behind.
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