Achi news desk-
Geneva, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 26th March, 2024) The final round of talks on a landmark pandemic agreement faces a frantic final push this week, with countries still pulling in different directions on how to handle global health crises. -wide in the future.
Talks run until Thursday with nations trying to hammer out an agreement to ensure the world is better prepared to deal with the next pandemic – or better yet, wipe it out before it happens.
Shaken by Covid-19, which tore apart economies, overturned societies, overwhelmed health systems and killed millions, countries decided in December 2021 to build a framework of binding commitments to prevent such trauma from happening again.
But as two years of talks come to a head, important points remain.
The ninth round, and the final round, opened on March 18, with daily talks continuing late into the evening.
Diplomats insist they remain keen to reach an agreement, but the various alliances still appear far apart.
The head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has repeatedly warned nations that “everyone will have to give something, or no one will get anything.”
– ‘Essential to humanity’ –
European countries – who led calls for a pandemic agreement – want more money invested in pandemic prevention, while African nations want the knowledge and funding to make that work, along with proper access to “countermeasures ” pandemic as vaccines and treatments.
The US wants to ensure that all countries share data and samples of emerging cases quickly and transparently, while developing countries are holding out firmly for guaranteed equity to stop them from being left behind.
A final agreement on pandemic preparedness, prevention and response is aimed at being adopted between May 27 and June 1 by the World Health Assembly of the 194 member states of the World Health Organization.
But there is a sense in diplomatic circles that developing nations are tiring of Western obduracy and additional talks may be needed in April to cross the line.
Tedros said on Monday that countries were “making progress, but there are still areas of difference that need further discussion.”
“None of them are invincible. If countries listen to each other’s concerns, I am confident they can find common ground”.
“The second major obstacle is the litany of lies and conspiracy theories about the agreement,” he added, slamming “deliberate deception that endangers the health of future generations”.
