The Member States of WHO have agreed a new Public Health Treaty, the Pandemic Agreement. It will now go forward for final adoption at the World Health Assembly in May.
The only way to do it is for countries to work together and hold each other accountable.
The modern world is interconnected, and infectious diseases easily cross borders. Though we cannot entirely prevent outbreaks, we can slow or stop pandemics before they kill millions – if we put in place a new way to respond together, as a global community.
We were unequipped to respond to COVID-19 because there was no global governance structure with the authority to monitor, inspect and hold actors accountable, and to coordinate the world response. As a result, countries did not follow existing legally binding International Health Regulations or emerging science-based public health recommendations.
We need fresh and independent thinking to get us to work together in a new way.
We consulted with global experts across borders and sectors to determine what a new global public health security convention would need to best prevent, prepare for and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics.