Opinion: The world needs the new pandemic treaty
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, 25 heads of government issued an extraordinary call for a new international treaty for preventing, preparing for, and responding to pandemics. For two years, World Health Organization member states have been negotiating an international agreement scheduled for adoption at the World Health Assembly this month. Yet, late Friday in Geneva, negotiations ground to a halt. While most of the draft treaty text was “greened,” meaning accepted by the parties, member states failed to reach consensus on critical issues.
With the World Health Assembly starting Monday, negotiators simply ran out of time to agree on the most contentious issues. As negotiations closed, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “My wish is that we will come out of the Health Assembly re-energized and inspired, because the world still needs a pandemic treaty and the world needs to be prepared. … This is not a failure.”
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