Lessons from Corona
WHO states conclude historical agreements on pandemic prevention
The next pandemic will come – but this time you want to be better prepared. The WHO members now want to have “written history” with an agreement for prevention.
Breakthrough in pandemic agreements: After tough negotiations, the WHO member states have approved a historical agreement with which they want to prepare better for future pandemics.
The Member States “took a big step forward in their efforts to make the world more secure before Pandemies,” said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday. Accordingly, the countries have “drawn up a draft for an agreement”, which of the WHO anniversary in May for the signing of the 194 members.
WHO members want to “write history”
After the fundamental cleaning on a global pandemic agreement, the negotiators had come together on Tuesday to give the contractual work the final touch. The session behind closed doors began on Tuesday morning at the WHO main seat in Geneva. The members literally negotiated up to the last minute.
The countries of the world have “written history today in Geneva,” said WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. With the Agreement, they would have created “not only a generation contract to increase security in the world”. They also showed that “multilateralism is alive and healthy and that the nations in our split world can still work together in order to find a common denominator and a joint answer to common threats”.
Without the USA
The United States has no longer participated in the negotiations since the change of government in Washington. The new President Donald Trump ordered the resignation from the WHO, which will be effective in January 2026. The contract now negotiated applies anyway only to countries whose parliaments have ratified it. Even after entry into force, the WHO cannot order lockdowns, travel restrictions or vaccinations. 60 ratifications are necessary, which could take a few years according to the expert opinion.
“I have no doubt that the world will be much better prepared for another pandemic after ratification and that it will survive better and more fairly,” said Gian-Luca Burci, professor at the Center for Global Health at the Geneva University Graduate Institute, the German Press Agency.
Coronapandemic was so depressing
In Germany, Coronapandemia officially breaks out on January 27, 2020. In Starnberg in Bavaria, the first patient is positively tested for the new virus. The uncertainty is still great: How should you deal with Covid-19? A first measure that many experts erroneously consider to be hardly effective at this point is to wear a medical protective mask – later it is standard
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What regulates the contract
- Prevention: Countries undertake to strengthen their health systems and the monitoring of the animal kingdom in such a way that outbursts of illness are quickly discovered and nipped in the bud if possible.
- Lief chains: What is used and delivered in the event of a pandemic should be equally accessible to all countries. Health personnel should be cared for first. In corona pandemic, countries had obtained masks or vaccines and some of them prevented export.
- Research and Development: Important information such as the DNA sequence about pathogens should be freely replaced so that medication and vaccines can be developed. In return, Pharmaceutical companies of the WHO are supposed to cede ten percent of their production as a donation to distribute in poorer countries (PABS system).
- Technology transfer: Companies should share their know-how to produce medication and vaccines, also to enable productions in other countries.
The text has many spongy formulations. Obligations apply, for example, “depending on national laws”, there are restrictions such as “in mutual agreement”.
At least 20 million people died by Corona
The WHO member states have been negotiating an international agreement to prevent pandemia for more than three years. With the agreement, the world is to be better prepared for crises such as Corona pandemic.
According to the UN organization, at least 20 million people died through the Corona pandemic. Countermeasures such as Lockdowns and travel restrictions caused serious economic damage. The health systems were also not prepared for pandemic.
AFP · dpa
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
