WHO member states agree better ways to detect health threats and set new deadline for pandemic treaty

The negotiation of a pandemic accord intended to prevent the global disaster seen during Covid-19 should be completed in the next year, WHO have announced.

“The amendments to the international health regulations will bolster countries’ ability to detect and respond to future outbreaks and pandemics by strengthening their own national capacities and coordination between fellow states, on disease surveillance, information sharing, and response,” said WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is built on commitment to equity, an understanding that health threats do not recognise national borders, and that preparedness is a collective endeavour.”

The revised international health regulations includes a commitment to strengthening access to medical products and financing, and stronger, more precise language that should accelerate the detection of health threats and the necessary global action to manage them.

“Full implementation of the international health regulations brings the world closer to being safer from pandemic threats. A new pandemic agreement with equity at its heart would further strengthen the rules around and guide international collaboration,” said Helen Clark, former New Zealand prime minister and co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

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Source: BMJ, 4 June 2024