While the world is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus, claims we must learn this lesson and prepare for a new pandemic.
“It’s a biological certainty that at some point, another virus will emerge that we simply can’t contain. We can take the steps now to prepare for that virus, to detect it and to respond rapidly when it arrives,” WHO Director-General said at the meeting of G20 Health and Finance Ministers on October 29th, 2021.
According to Ghebreyesus, in order to put up with a new pandemic we need three things: governance, financing and finally, a strengthened, empowered and sustainably financed WHO at the centre of the global health architecture.
He stressed that the efforts of high-level politicians are needed to combat "high-level threats" and urged to support the establishment of a Health Threats Financing Board. In addition, according to Ghebreyesus, the WHO seeks the support for a legally-binding international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response, at the Special Session of the World Health Assembly next month.
In addition, WHO Director-General asked the G20 to end the vaccine crisis and fully fund the ACT Accelerator.
“36% of the world’s population is now fully vaccinated. But in Africa, it’s only 6%. To achieve our 40% target, we need an additional 550 million doses. That’s about 10 days’ production. As my friend Gordon Brown says, more than half that number is sitting unused in your countries, and could be immediately deployed,” he told, adding that “We need those countries that have made generous pledges to donate vaccines to fulfil those pledges urgently; We need those countries that produce vaccines to allow free cross-border flow of finished vaccines and raw materials, and to facilitate sharing of know-how, technology, licenses and IP; And we need manufacturers to prioritize and fulfil their contracts with COVAX and AVAT as a matter of urgency.”
WHO Director General reminded that on October 28, WHO and the partners published the new Strategic Plan and Budget for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, with an ask of 23.4 billion U.S. dollars to make sure tests, treatments and vaccines go where they are needed most.