WHO chief appeals for G20 support to create pandemic accord
The World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has appealed to G20 member stated to support efforts to instutute a pandemic accord to avert future pandemics.
Dr Tedros made the remarks on Saturday at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi, India.
“I seek your personal support for a strong pandemic accord, including a commitment to equitable access to medical countermeasures. A good pandemic accord will help us to prevent a pandemic like COVID in the future,” he appealed.
The WHO chief further asked the G20 nations to commit to forging “a new global economy that preserves and promotes the intimate links between the health of people and planet.”
Discussions towards a global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response are well underway, with a view to presenting proposals to the World Health Assembly in May 2024.
The proposals to create a binding global pandemic accord was driven by the need to ensure communities, governments, and other sectors of society – within countries and globally – are better prepared and protected to tackle potential future pandemics.
At the heart of the proposed accord is the need to ensure equity in both access to the tools needed to prevent pandemics (including technologies like vaccines, personal protective equipment, information and expertise) and access to health care for all people.
“The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that when health is at risk, everything is at risk: lives, societies, and economies,”Dr Tedros said.
