WHO members agreed on Sunday to launch negotiations to create an international instrument to better prevent and combat the next pandemic that is sure to come.
The draft agreement has yet to be officially validated at the exceptional meeting of the World Health Assembly - the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization which brings together its 194 members - which begins Monday and will last three days, in a time when the new variant of the Omicron coronavirus is spreading around the planet.
“After lengthy negotiations, WHO Member States have today informally agreed to begin negotiations on a Pandemic Treaty. The resolution must now be formally adopted tomorrow by world leaders ”
at the special session of the World Health Assembly, the European Union mission announced on its Twitter account.
“The events of the past few weeks demonstrate more than ever the need for global solidarity and leadership. We look forward to world leaders demonstrating their shared commitment tomorrow. The momentum is here - the world needs to be better prepared!
She added.
Several other delegations have followed suit.
"We have just reached a consensus on this text: an important step towards a new global agreement on prevention, preparation and response to pandemics,"
tweeted for his part the British Ambassador Simon Manley.
Negotiating body
So far the United States has not been in favor of a treaty - preferring a faster process - but has ended up slacking off.
The draft agreement provides for the creation of “an intergovernmental negotiating body (referred to as the 'negotiating body') open to all Member States and Associate Members to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument of the United Nations. 'WHO on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response ”.
This negotiating body should meet for the first time no later than March 1 in order to
"elect two co-chairs, respecting a balance between developed and developing countries, and four vice-chairs, each representing one of the six regions. of the WHO ”.
It will then have to start developing a preliminary draft to be submitted to its second meeting, which will take place no later than August 1.
The findings of the intergovernmental body, however, are not expected to be released until the 77th World Health Assembly in 2024, after a progress report in 2023.
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