WHO: There is no common agreement between countries on better prevention against pandemics

After the road race he served to conclude a joint agreement for better prevention against his member countries, the goal was not achieved. After two years of painful talks, WHO member countries failed to conclude yesterday, Thursday (28.03.2024), an international agreement aimed at better preparing the world for future pandemics and negotiations will resume in April. The 194 countries meeting within the World Health Organization decided to work out a binding text to avoid repeating the fatal and costly errors made in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, which revealed to what extent the world was unprepared to face a crisis of this magnitude. The ninth and final round of negotiations began on 18 March and ended yesterday without a final text. “You are not far from the conclusion of an agreement,” said WHO Secretary General Tentros Andanom Gebregisus at the conclusion of talks at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva. “I continue to keep my hopes and hope you will succeed,” he added, recalling that a “deal is a tool that saves lives and not just a sheet of paper.” The WHO chief appealed to the countries to be put back into work to reach a final agreement by the end of May. The talks began in February 2022 with the aim of the organization’s member countries formally adopting an agreement at the next World Health Assembly, which begins its work on 27 May in Geneva. However, after two years and with the injuries of the pandemic already retreated, significant friction points remain and the draft agreement remains filled with temporary formalities in parentheses, which indicate possible alternatives. The talks also make it even more difficult for WHO members to conclude agreements by consensus, finding common ground, and this process usually takes many years. The hope of reaching an agreement has not yet been completely lost, however, as the countries will decide whether they agree on additional negotiating days from 29 April to 10 May. The office of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, leading the negotiations, will draw up a new draft agreement by 18 April at the latest and make efforts to complete the talks by 5 May. The main issues still under negotiation are access to information on pathogens that appear, better prevention and better surveillance of epidemics, reliable funding and transfer of know-how to the poorest countries. European countries want to invest more money in prevention, while Africans – left aside during COVID-19 – want know-how and funding, but also adequate access to tests, vaccines and other treatments. The US for their part wants a guarantee of transparency and an immediate exchange of data for any outbreak of an unknown disease. The “nationalism of vaccines” and selfishness regarding vaccines, the lack of protective equipment, the exposure and exhaustion of health professionals and the donations of vaccine stocks near the end of the rich countries to the poor, under the pretext of solidarity, are only some of the many malfunctions brought to light by the recent pandemic. In the opinion of experts, China was very late in December 2019 to share information on COVID-19 and it was soon too late. Without an agreement, “we will experience the same inequalities, the same lack of coordination, the same losses of life and bio-rural instruments that could be avoided and the same social, economic and political upheavals as those observed with COVID-19,” the WHO secretary-general warned this week.