The leaders of some twenty countries, the WHO and the President of the European Council called on Tuesday, March 30, to draw up an “international treaty on pandemics” to combat future health crises.
24 Heads of State and the Director of WHO publish an article through The world to deal with possible next global pandemics. Thus, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, or even South Korean Presidents Moon Jae-in, South African Cyril Ramaphosa, Indonesian Joko Widodo and Chilean Sebastián Pinera call for collaboration. “ There will be other pandemics and other large-scale health emergencies. No single government or multilateral body can tackle this threat on its own.“, insists the forum. Also signatories, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will present this project of union to the press this Tuesday, which could be base on the “International Health Regulations”, a legal instrument adopted in 2005.
Vaccines, future “public goods”?
The objective of this international neo-treaty is to “Strongly consolidate international cooperation to improve, for example: warning systems, pooling of information, research but also the production and distribution of vaccines, drugs, diagnostic products and protective equipment” affirms the platform. The signatories also wish to present vaccination as a “public good”, by engaging greater mutual accountability and greater transparency in cooperation. “In this regard, we are committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, effective and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this pandemic and those that will follow. Immunization is a global public good, ”say the 25 leaders.
“A sustained commitment over many years“
It is a task that “Will take time and will require a sustained commitment over many years” and which will require “Global leadership” recognizes the text. However, this call in unison was not heard by the greatest world powers, thus, the United States, Russia or even China are not among the signatories of this platform.
