Latest news with #WHOPandemicAgreement
Scoop
28-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Pandemics To Pollution: WHO Assembly Delivers Landmark Health Decisions
28 May 2025 In addition, the Assembly endorsed a wide range of measures to promote health equity, reduce air pollution, and strengthen protections for vulnerable populations. ' The words 'historic' and 'landmark' are overused, but they are perfectly apt to describe this year's World Health Assembly,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the Assembly's closing, ending nine days of intense debate and decisions. The centrepiece of the Assembly's outcomes was the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted on 20 May after more than three years of negotiations. The agreement, seen as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve global preparedness and response to future pandemics, aims to strengthen international coordination, enhance equity in access to medical tools and ensure that no country is left behind in future health crises. A key next step will be consultations on access to pathogen and benefit-sharing, which seeks to guarantee equitable sharing of medical countermeasures derived from pathogens. Boost for WHO budget Another major outcome was the approval of a 20 per cent increase in assessed contributions – the core, mandatory funding from Member States that underpins WHO's work. By 2030-2031, these contributions will cover 50 per cent of the agency's core budget, a crucial step toward financial sustainability. Health leaders also pledged at least $210 million to WHO's ongoing Investment Round, adding to the $1.7 billion already raised and expanding the agency's donor base. A healthier world The Assembly also delivered a sweeping slate of resolutions addressing a wide range of health challenges. For the first time, nations adopted global resolutions on lung and kidney health, aligning with the growing recognition of noncommunicable diseases as a global priority. Countries also set an ambitious new target to halve the health impacts of air pollution by 2040 and in an innovative move, adopted a resolution on social connection, acknowledging mounting evidence linking social isolation to poor health outcomes. They also endorsed measures to combat the digital marketing of formula milk and baby foods, and addressed rare diseases, a lead-free future and the eradication of Guinea worm disease. History is made In conclusion, Director-General Tedros urged countries to continue the momentum beyond the Assembly, highlighting the spirit of cooperation and commitment to health for all. ' You, the nations of the world, made history,' he said. 'Yes, there is conflict in our world, but you have shown that there is also cooperation. Yes, there is inequity, but you have shown a commitment to equity. Yes, there is disease, but you have shown a commitment to health – health for all.'
Epoch Times
25-05-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
‘Not a Matter of If, but When': Australia Signs up to WHO Pandemic Agreement
Australia has backed the World Health Organisation's (WHO) global pandemic agreement, as the United States was a no-show at the assembly. The United States elected not to participate in the WHO's first-ever international agreement and will not be bound to it in the event of a future pandemic. However, the Australian government said the WHO agreement takes into account 'lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic' and supports 'collective action' to address pandemic threats. This includes increasing disease surveillance and vaccine access. Health Minister Mark Butler and Foreign Minister Penny Wong both called the adoption of the WHO agreement a 'significant step' towards preparing and responding to future pandemics. Wong said international cooperation on health was needed to keep Australia and the world safe. 'The adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement demonstrates the value of the international community working together to find solutions to shared global challenges,' she Related Stories 4/16/2025 5/30/2024 Butler added, 'The next pandemic is not a matter of if, but when. We have a collective responsibility to protect public health in all of our countries. The adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement is an important step forward.' However, Liberal Senator Alex Antic raised concerns the pandemic agreement would transfer decision making responsibility away from local decision makers into the hands of 'unaccountable globalist bureaucrats.' In an email to supporters on May 23, Antic also expressed concerns about the agreement's influence on decisions made by sovereign nations during health emergencies and called for Australia to withdraw from the WHO. 'This is particularly concerning given that the preamble to the pandemic agreement purports to recognise 'the importance and public health impact of growing threats such as climate change. Will sovereign nations simply follow WHO recommendations if a 'climate emergency' is declared?' he said. 'I f Australia is to remain the author of its own future, we must withdraw from the WHO." The Albanese government, however, said Australia would 'Once the agreement has entered into force, Australia and our region will be better positioned to reduce pandemic risks and respond swiftly if a pandemic occurs, saving lives and mitigating the impacts on our economies,' Butler said. The federal government said Australia would only start its 'treaty-making process' after the agreement opens for signature from mid-2026. 'While the agreement has been adopted by the World Health Assembly, there are further steps remaining to finalise technical details,' the government said. What's in the WHO Pandemic Agreement? The WHO Pandemic agreement was adopted with The document A key feature of the pandemic agreement is the WHO Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS). If a new virus or pathogen with 'pandemic potential' appears, countries that are a part of this pandemic agreement will be required to share genetic sequence data with the WHO. This is aimed at developing quick development of therapeutics and vaccines. Further, pharmaceutical companies will need to provide 20 percent of vaccines they develop using this data to the WHO during a future pandemic. This includes 10 percent sold at lower prices and 10 percent donated to the WHO for distribution to poorer countries. 'Each participating manufacturer shall make available to the WHO, pursuant to legally binding contracts signed with the WHO, rapid access targeting 20 percent of their real time production of safe, quality and effective vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for the pathogen causing the pandemic emergency,' the agreement said. The agreement states that the WHO does not have the power to enforce lockdowns, travel bans, or impose vaccine mandates. It also states that parties to the agreement recognise, 'growing threats such as climate change, poverty and hunger, fragile and vulnerable settings, weak primary healthcare and the spread of antimicrobial resistance.'
Kuwait Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- Kuwait Times
After quitting WHO, US urges others to ‘consider joining us'
As WHO adopts pandemic accord, chief says all theories on table as to how COVID spread began GENEVA: The UN health agency on Tuesday adopted a landmark Pandemic Agreement on tackling future health crises, struck after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the COVID-19 crisis. The accord aims to prevent the disjointed response and international disarray that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic, by improving global coordination and surveillance, and access to vaccines, in any future pandemics. The World Health Organization's decision-making annual assembly adopted the plan on Tuesday at its Geneva headquarters. 'It's an historic day,' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told AFP after the vote. US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on Tuesday branded the World Health Organization bloated and moribund, and urged other countries to 'consider joining us' in creating new institutions instead. In a video message to the World Health Assembly — the WHO's decision-making body — Kennedy said the UN agency was under undue influence from China, gender ideology and the pharmaceutical industry. Kennedy's comments were broadcast hours after WHO adopted the pandemic accord, the text of which was finalized by consensus last month, following multiple rounds of tense negotiations. The United States pulled out of those talks, following US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw his country from the WHO, a process that takes one year to complete. 'The world is safer today thanks to the leadership, collaboration and commitment of our member states to adopt the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement,' Tedros said in a statement. 'The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. 'It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19.' 'Political interference' The United States has traditionally been the WHO's largest donor. Washington's departure, and its refusal to pay its membership fees for 2024 and 2025, has left it reeling financially. 'The WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics,' Kennedy said in a message to the assembly. 'I urge the world's health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call. 'We've already been in contact with like-minded countries and we encourage others to consider joining us.' Kennedy, a noted vaccine sceptic, said the United States wanted to free international health cooperation 'from the straight-jacket of political interference by corrupting influences'. 'We don't have to suffer the limits of a moribund WHO. Let's create new institutions or revisit existing institutions that are lean, efficient, transparent and accountable,' he said. Kennedy also said that too often the WHO's priorities had 'increasingly reflected the biases and the interests of corporate medicine'. 'Too often it has allowed political agendas like pushing harmful gender ideology to hijack its core mission,' he added. 'Undue influence' from China Kennedy said while the United States had been the WHO's top donor, China had 'exerted undue influence' to serve its own interests. He said the WHO had suppressed reports of human-to-human transmission of COVID, then 'worked with China to promote the fiction that COVID originated from bats or pangolins rather than from Chinese government-sponsored research at a biolab in Wuhan'. Trump's administration has embraced the so-called lab leak theory. Kennedy said global cooperation on health was still critically important to him and to Trump. 'But it isn't working very well under the WHO, as the failures of the COVID era demonstrate,' he said. Kennedy said the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted Tuesday by the assembly, 'will lock in all of the dysfunctions of the WHO pandemic response. We're not going to participate in that. We need to reboot the whole system.' A March 2021 WHO-Chinese joint report into COVID's origins said the most likely hypothesis was that the virus jumped from bats to humans via an intermediate animal. But little further progress has been made. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has long said all theories remain on the table as to how the COVID-19 pandemic began. In his speech to the assembly on Tuesday, Tedros said: 'The pandemic has ended, but we still don't know how it started.' 'Understanding how it did remains important, both as a scientific imperative and as a moral imperative', for the sake of the millions killed. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong told the assembly that Beijing had been 'responsible and constructive on the matters of COVID' and 'any attempts to smear China ... will prove futile'. — Agencies
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
WHO Pandemic Agreement will prevent and control disease outbreaks
Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) have recently agreed on the world's first Pandemic Agreement. This landmark decision was made in response to the devastating global impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 78th World Health Assembly announced this agreement, which was the culmination of three years of intense negotiations by governments across WHO regions. This accord aims to protect the world and equitably distribute resources for future pandemics. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, stated that: 'These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems.' According to leading data and analytics company GlobalData, from January 2020 to May 2025, 41 million deaths had a Covid-19 diagnosis (clinically confirmed Covid-19 cases), out of which 6.7 million deaths occurred in the US, 4.2 million deaths occurred in Brazil, and 3.2 million deaths occurred in India. The Pandemic Agreement addresses the gaps and inequities in preventing, preparing for, and responding to pandemics in WHO member states. Collaboration and cooperation between countries, the WHO, the pharmaceutical industry, and the private sector will help prevent pandemics from occurring in the first place and will provide a better response to tackle outbreaks of disease. The Covid-19 pandemic caused global disruptions, and health systems became incapable of reliably providing care due to lack of resources, especially in poorer countries. Collaboration and cooperation between countries were lacking, and there was inequitable distribution of scarce resources among WHO member countries. A series of steps will be taken to prepare for the Pandemic Agreement's implementation, including the negotiation of a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system through an Intergovernmental Working Group. The result of this process will be considered and ratified at next year's World Health Assembly. Member states will also initiate steps to coordinate, finance, and set up a global supply chain and logistics network for the equitable distribution of resources and to prevent disease outbreaks. Governance and oversight mechanisms will be established to ensure trust, accountability, and transparency in pandemic responses. The pharmaceutical industry and private sector will both play a key role in providing timely access to vaccines and other healthcare resources needed by WHO member states. The agreement will enter into force after at least 60 countries sign it next year. People worldwide will be better protected from future disease outbreaks once the agreement is implemented. "WHO Pandemic Agreement will prevent and control disease outbreaks" was originally created and published by Clinical Trials Arena, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Business Standard
21-05-2025
- Health
- Business Standard
New WHO agreement on pandemic response: What's it is and what it will do
With lessons from Covid-19, WHO members back treaty to improve equity, vaccine access, and emergency coordination during future outbreaks Barkha Mathur New Delhi World Health Organization (WHO) member states have adopted a landmark agreement aimed at addressing the gaps exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The WHO Pandemic Agreement is designed to ensure faster, fairer and more coordinated global responses during future health emergencies. What is the WHO Pandemic Agreement? The WHO Pandemic Agreement is the first legally binding international accord to comprehensively address pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. Adopted under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, it promotes data sharing, equitable access to resources and greater cooperation between countries during health crises. The agreement text states that member countries recognise 'that the international spread of disease is a global threat… that calls for the widest possible international and regional collaboration… while reaffirming the principle of the sovereignty of States in addressing public health matters.' What are the goals of the WHO pandemic treaty? The agreement outlines five primary objectives: Ensure equitable access to pandemic-related vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics Strengthen collaboration through data and pathogen sharing Support resilient health systems, especially in low-resource settings Promote knowledge and technology transfer for local production Establish sustainable funding mechanisms for rapid response How will countries benefit from the pandemic agreement? Countries that sign and ratify the agreement will be entitled to: Rapid access to 20 per cent of global pandemic-related health product output — 10 per cent as donations, 10 per cent at affordable prices A Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network (GSCL) for fair resource distribution A coordinated financial mechanism for emergency response from day one of a pandemic Access to shared technologies and production knowledge, especially in developing countries What is the WHO Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS)? The Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS), still under negotiation, will govern how countries share biological materials and genome sequences and ensure fair return benefits like vaccines and diagnostics. The PABS annex will be finalised for consideration at the 2026 World Health Assembly. The treaty also adopts a 'One Health' approach, acknowledging the link between human, animal and environmental health. What happens next? The agreement is now open for signature and ratification. It will become binding once ratified by 60 countries. Member states are expected to: Begin aligning national laws with the agreement Engage in the development of the PABS annex Support WHO-led efforts to strengthen health systems, particularly in developing nations Consider early ratification to expedite the treaty's entry into force How will the agreement promote equity in vaccine distribution? The agreement directly addresses vaccine inequity, a major issue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pharmaceutical manufacturers will be required to reserve: 10 per cent of production for WHO-led donations 10 per cent at reduced prices for distribution to low-income nations The agreement also discourages vaccine hoarding and promotes timely and transparent supply allocation to vulnerable populations. What did WHO say about the significance of the treaty? 'The world is safer today thanks to the leadership, collaboration and commitment of our Member States to adopt the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement,' said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement. He added: 'The Agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during Covid-19.'
