Global Health Experts Urge World Leaders to Act Now and Approve Pandemic Treaty to Avoid Repeat of COVID-19 Scramble for Resources

In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, global health experts gathered in Geneva to discuss the need for a pandemic treaty. Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s health minister and a board member of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, expressed concern about the world’s lack of preparedness for another major health crisis.

One of the main challenges in the treaty negotiations has been ensuring that low and middle-income countries have access to life-saving tests, treatments, and vaccines. A proposal to allocate 20% of these products to these countries at either no-profit costs or through donations has been met with some resistance. Ali Pate argued that this allocation is necessary to avoid a repeat of the scramble for resources that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many African countries at a disadvantage.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has emphasized that the treaty is not intended to infringe on countries’ sovereignty, and a clause in the document safeguards against this. While negotiations on the treaty are expected to continue for several months or even years, there is a sense of urgency to reach an agreement before upcoming elections in key countries could result in right-leaning governments that may oppose it.

Despite these challenges, there is a push to finalize both the pandemic treaty and updates to existing rules governing disease outbreaks before the end of WHO’s annual meeting. The goal is to ensure that the world is better prepared for future health crises and prevent delays and inequities in access to life-saving resources.