Humanity, scared with strategies for a new pandemic

Although four years have passed since the emergence of Covid-19, there is still no agreement on how to prepare for future pandemics.

After two years of talks, efforts to reach a global agreement on preparing for and preventing future pandemics failed to reach a consensus following the ninth, scheduled to be the last, round of negotiations held in Geneva.

Difficulties in defining strategies for future pandemics

Most of the world’s countries initiated this plan following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tense talks on the pandemic deal, planned to end with a deal on Thursday (March 28), have dragged on, with World Health Organization (WHO) member states deciding to hold an additional meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body ( CIN) between April 29 and May 10.

The World Health Assembly (WHA), which begins on May 27, is expected to adopt the agreement, designed to be a global guide on preventing, preparing for and responding to future pandemics.

CIN co-chairman Roland Driece said: “We had long and intense discussions, but we were unable to conclude this meeting.”

Several states complained that their proposals were not scrutinized

Instead, the CIN Bureau will provide a revised text to Member States by 18 April at the latest.

However, this text will be distinct from the previous one, as it will aim to highlight points of consensus rather than provide an enumeration of issues about future pandemics.

“This text will build on the current one, but it will also be different in terms of focus and level of detail, as we discussed previously, but we will still try to operate on equity as much as possible,” Driece said.

“We will build on the consensus already identified. Consensus is an important word”. The CIN drafting group will focus on the “agreement text” and member states have been urged to “provide the Bureau with any convergence text resulting from informal consultations as soon as possible”.

At the start of the two-week negotiations on strategies for future pandemics, several member states raised the issue that their proposals and agreements agreed in subgroups were not reflected in the Bureau’s draft text.

Emphasizing the importance of consensus seemed to encourage delegates, including Switzerland, who noted that there was “a clear direction forward”.

Switzerland refused to accept the draft text at the start of discussions on future pandemics, according to healthpolicy-watch.news.