After weeks of headlines about cuts to global health, scientists being locked out of their labs and life-saving clinical trials and vaccine research being put on hold due to US and other global funding cuts, confidence in collaborative global health security was waning.
Today’s adoption of the Pandemic Agreement at the World Health Assembly in Geneva offers resounding hope that common sense and shared goodwill towards humanity will, eventually, prevail.
It might have taken over three years of challenging discussions and amendments, but today’s commitment by 124 countries is a historic decision.
This is the first such health-related agreement to be successfully negotiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the duration of negotiations reflects complexities in gaining agreement across member states.
Keeping pandemic preparedness on the agenda
Pandemic preparedness is still one of the most pressing challenges in global health. The fact that we have faced a pandemic recently does not make it any less likely that we are about to face another.
While we’ve come a long way since the start of the Covid pandemic in some areas like vaccines and data sharing, in others – like the political will to work together and invest in biosecurity the same way we invest in defence – progress has stalled.
Ultimately the success of this Pandemic Agreement will depend on national investment, and across all countries this will require renewed political will beyond the Health Ministries.
Read the full story on the Pandemic Sciences Institute website.