World Health Organization.
Geneva: World Health Organisation (WHO) member states on Saturday approved new measures to improve global preparedness to tackle pandemics such as COVID-19 and ampox and set a new deadline to agree on a mega treaty, the WHO said. Countries agreed to amend the International Health Regulations (IHR), such as defining the term “global pandemic emergency” and helping developing countries get better access to financing and medical products. These rules were last changed in 2005, the WHO said.
The move comes at a time when the UN agency ended its six-day World Health Assembly this year after failing to agree on plans to adopt a more comprehensive “treaty” to deal with global pandemics. The plans were not agreed upon due to disagreements about better exchange of technology and the germs that cause epidemics. The WHO said that countries agreed to complete the negotiations on the agreement to deal with epidemics by the end of the year.
The world together for a common purpose
“The success of the IHR revisions shows that, in our fragmented and divisive world, countries can still come together to find common purpose and common ground,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. The WHO said countries have defined a global pandemic emergency as an infectious disease that is likely to spread widely across geography or has a very high risk of spread. It is also defined as an outbreak that could cause “significant” economic or social disruption and that requires urgent international action, the agency said. (AP)
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