World Leaders, WHO Call For International Pandemic Treaty

World Leaders on Tuesday backed an idea to create an international treaty that would help the world deal with future health emergencies like the so called coronavirus pandemic.

The idea was floated by the chairman of European Union leaders Charles Michel at a G20 summit last November and would ensure universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for pandemics

On Tuesday it got the formal backing of the leaders of Fiji, Portugal, Romania, Britain, Rwanda, Kenya, France, Germany, Greece, Korea, Chile, Costa Rica, Albania, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Senegal, Spain, Norway, Serbia, Indonesia, Ukraine and the WHO.

In a joint opinion article in major newspapers the leaders said there would be other pandemics and other major health emergencies and that no single government can address this threat alone.

They said the main goal of such a treaty would be to strengthen the world’s resilience to future pandemics through better alert systems, data sharing, production and distribution of vaccines, personal protective equipment.

They stressed that nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response.

The past couple of months have seen many countries of the world engage in massive roll out vaccines for which Pharmaceutical companies have received waivers.

However some Advocacy Bodies and Civil societies believe that issues of Vaccine hesitancy, Privacy and Human Rights are yet to be adequately addressed.