Global leaders call for negotiators to push through pandemic accord ahead of May deadline

More than 100 world leaders have come together to push negotiators to finalise a global pandemic accord before the World Health Organization’s deadline in May.“There is no time to waste,” said 23 former national presidents, 22 former prime ministers, and three former presidents of the UN General Assembly in an open letter published last week.1Former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair and three Nobel laureates were among the signatories who outlined the importance of finalising the world’s first pandemic accord.“Only a strong global pact on pandemics can protect future generations from a repeat of the covid crisis, which led to millions of deaths and caused widespread social and economic devastation, owing not least to insufficient international collaboration,” the signatories said. The pandemic caused an estimated 15 million excess deaths across the world.2WHO’s 194 member states agreed in December 2021 to draw up a pandemic accord, a new, legally…
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