Pandemic Treaty: One Step Closer To Control Over Global Health Emergencies

WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is pushing one step closer to control over global health emergencies with the Pandemic Treaty.”

During the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) 76th World Health Assembly (WHA), WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told members the threat of “another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.” The WHA, which closed its meeting on May 30, moved one step closer to its plan for a “legally binding” Pandemic Treaty that will coordinate the prevention, preparedness, and response to a global health emergency with its member states.

According to reporting from Think Global Health, those arguing for a Pandemic Treaty “have variously argued that it should address—among other things—surveillance, outbreak notification, the sharing of pathogen samples and genetic sequence information, zoonoses, pandemic prevention, trade, and travel measures, equitable access to health countermeasures, health capacities in low-income countries, universal health coverage, social determinants of health, intellectual property rights, misinformation and disinformation, financing for pandemic preparedness and response, human rights, and strengthening the WHO.”

The organization and its 194 member nations began negotiations in March 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final ratification of the treaty will occur a year from now, in the Spring of 2024, with many more meetings and events scheduled in the interim. Notably, some member states suggested there should also be a simulation exercise (remember EVENT 201?) based on the draft proposal in advance of a future pandemic to test the effectiveness of the proposed treaty, as seen in the video below.

WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the World Health Assembly forum that we should be prepared for a disease even deadlier than COVID.

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