Countries ready to draft new accord to handle future pandemics: Tedros
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Tedros said Botswana and South Africa were being 'penalised' for doing the right thing while referring to the travel bans
World Health Organisation(WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that Botswana and South Africa were being "penalised" for doing the right thing while referring to the travel bans imposed by various countries.
The WHO chief thanked both countries for "detecting, sequencing and reporting the variant rapidly".
Tedros informed that member states had agreed to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body to begin drafting and negotiating a new accord to handle future pandemics.
"A convention, agreement or other international instrument will not solve every problem," he said adding, "But it will provide the overarching framework to foster greater international cooperation and provide a platform for strengthening global health security."
"...the nations of the world have made a strong statement that health security is too important to be left to chance, or goodwill, or shifting geopolitical currents, or vested interests"-@DrTedros #WHASpecial #PandemicTreaty https://t.co/cqR0YdcRRH
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 1, 2021
The first meeting on the drafting the new policy will be held in March next year and it will submit the outcome to the UN health body in 2024.
"That may seem like a long process, and it is, but we should not be naïve in thinking that reaching a global accord on pandemics will be easy," he said.
"The idea for an international instrument on tobacco control was formally initiated in 1995, but the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control didn't enter into force until a decade later. Of course, we hope that this process won't take nearly that long"-@DrTedros #PandemicTreaty
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 1, 2021
The WHO chief conceded that there were "differences of opinion" over the new accord and what it should contain, however, he maintained that "differences can be overcome, and common ground can be found."
"The spirit of solidarity that we have seen today is what we need not just to prevent and mitigate the impact of future pandemics, but to end this one," the WHO chief said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
