WHO moves towards a global anti-pandemic pact

After more than three years of negotiations, the countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) have reached a global pact for the prevention and treatment of future pandemics. The agreement is set to be reviewed and ratified at the upcoming World Health Assembly in May.

At a meeting held this Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland, WHO member states reached agreements on various measures aimed at preventing the emergence of new pandemics, like COVID-19, and ensuring a coordinated response if they occur.

Following the meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed attendees, emphasizing that the member countries of the organization "have made history" by reaching this agreement.

"The nations of the world made history today," Ghebreyesus said just after the meeting concluded. "In reaching consensus on the Pandemic Agreement, not only did they put in place a generational accord to make the world safer, they have also demonstrated that multilateralism is alive and well, and that in our divided world, nations can still work together to find common ground, and a shared response to shared threats."

The WHO anti-pandemic pact

This agreement, which began discussions in December 2021—when the coronavirus was claiming millions of lives worldwide—aims to "prevent, prepare, and respond" to future pandemics, according to the WHO.

During Wednesday's meeting, member states outlined key points in a 32-page document, covering everything from research phases to the implementation of measures aimed at strengthening health systems, including the production of health products and financial oversight.

"Proposals include establishing a pathogen access and benefit sharing system; taking concrete measures on pandemic prevention, including through a One Health approach; building geographically diverse research and development capacities; facilitating the transfer of technology and related knowledge, skills and expertise for the production of pandemic-related health products; mobilizing a skilled, trained and multidisciplinary national and global health emergency workforce; setting up a coordinating financial mechanism; taking concrete measures to strengthen preparedness, readiness and health system functions and resilience; and establishing a global supply chain and logistics network," the WHO explained.

U.S. out of WHO

While the organization seeks to expand its influence and gain full authority to manage future pandemics, despite Tedros Ghebreyesus's emphasis on "multilateralism," the United States is determined to prevent this from happening at all costs.

For some time now, and in light of former President Joe Biden’s warm remarks about the WHO, numerous state and local leaders (mostly Republicans) along with attorneys general, have refused to let the agency take control of managing future pandemics. Their concern is to prevent the WHO from becoming "the global governor of public health."

Since then, that opposition has remained steadfast, to the point where President Donald Trump took the drastic step of withdrawing the United States from the WHO."

No sooner had he returned to the White House than, as part of a series of executive orders, the president decided to announce the country's departure from the WHO, citing the organization's "ineffectiveness" and its preferential treatment of other countries at the expense of U.S. interests.

Trump ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to immediately suspend all collaborations with the WHO.