The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that the final draft of a “pandemic agreement” is nearing completion.
“In addition to responding to emergencies, we continue to work with Member States to strengthen the global health security architecture,” the director-general said. “As you recall, during last year’s World Health Assembly, Member States adopted a package of amendments to the International Health Regulations.”
“As you know, after a long week and a marathon session on Friday that lasted until Saturday morning, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body is closer than ever to delivering on its mandate,” he added. “Negotiators worked through the night on Friday without any sleep for more than 24 hours non-stop. That is a true reflection of the seriousness Member States give to this process and to the importance of concluding a WHO Pandemic Agreement for adoption at the WHA in a few weeks’ time.
He stated that all but one article has been agreed.
“Of course, while the Pandemic Agreement has been under negotiation, we have already taken many steps to strengthen global health security, based on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tedros noted, explaining that the WHO has “established the Pandemic Fund, the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme, the BioHub, the Global Health Emergency Corps, the Interim Medical Countermeasures Network, the Universal Health and Preparedness Review, and more.”
The WHO director-general doubled down on his calls for a pandemic treaty in February, saying that finalizing the draft is “a case of now or never.”
“But I am confident that you will choose now, because you know what is at stake,” he said. “You remember the hard-won lessons of COVID-19, which left an estimated 20 million of our brothers and sisters dead, and which continues to kill.”
“They are why we are here: to protect future generations from the impact of future pandemics,” the WHO leader stated. “Because we know that the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January to withdraw the United States from the WHO.
