WHO Chief says international cooperation is essential for stopping pandemics

NEW DELHI: While addressing a special three-day meeting of the World Health Organisation’s governing body in Geneva on Monday, November 29, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation, said that greater international cooperation is required to sustain the hard-won gains of the world against the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting of the World Health Assembly was convened to discuss the issue of a ‘pandemic treaty’.

The WHO chief further said that the current system disincentivizes countries from alerting other governments of threats which may eventually land on their shores. Thus, a new global accord on pandemic is essential to ensure that such pandemics do not happens again.

Dr Tedros also praised the quickness and far-sightedness of South African health authorities in identifying and alerting all other countries about the new virus strain. He said that the world must be thankful to South Africa as the condition of the pandemic could have worsened multifold had they not proactively detected the new variant. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations, also expressed concern over the cost that African countries are having to pay for having low levels of vaccinations and being home to a new variant of coronavirus. He urged countries to not ban travel of travelers from African countries and instead resort to stringent testing and quarantine measures. He further added that it is necessary for governments to adopt science-based measures to contain the virus spread and keep in mind the importance of global trade and economic engagement.