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20 world leaders call for COVID-19 pandemic treaty

More than 20 world leaders along with global organizations published a commentary on Tuesday calling for a worldwide treaty to prepare for future pandemics taking into account lessons learned from COVID-19.

Stating that COVID is the biggest threat to global stability since the 1940s, they compared the current climate to that of the post-war years, when it was necessary to bring countries together to “dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, namely peace, prosperity, health and security.”

They believe that when the fight to combat the coronavirus comes to an end, there will be a necessity to construct a “robust international health architecture” to ensure future generations are protected.

This structure needs to be multilateral and global, with the participation of all the world’s nations.

“We are, therefore, committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this and future pandemics. Immunization is a global public good and we will need to be able to develop, manufacture and deploy vaccines as quickly as possible,” they wrote.

They call for the world’s nations to work together to build a new “international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response” based on the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), and taking into account other relevant organizations, including “global health instruments” such as the International Health Regulations that work under the “principle of health for all.”

The treaty’s main goal would be to implement an approach that would include all of society, including national, regional and global bodies, utilizing alert systems, data-sharing, research and local, regional and global production of medical and health measures to combat a future pandemic. Measures would include vaccines, medicines, diagnostic tools and personal protective equipment.

The treaty “would also include recognition of a ‘One Health’ approach that connects the health of humans, animals and our planet. And such a treaty should lead to more mutual accountability and shared responsibility, transparency and cooperation within the international system and with its rules and norms.”

They added, “We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Signatories to the piece include the leaders of the U.K, France, Greece, South Korea, Chile, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Indonesia, and Ukraine, along with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO.

Source: Dan Verbin – Arutz Sheva