World Health Organization member states agreed Wednesday to start work on building a new international accord setting out how to handle the next global pandemic.
Countries adopted a resolution at a special meeting in Geneva, launching the process that it is hoped should result in a new agreement on pandemics.
The three-day meeting of the World Health Assembly—the WHO’s decision-making body comprising all 194 member states—was an unprecedented special session on how to handle the next pandemic.
Countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body “to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”
The body’s first meeting must be no later than March 1 next year to elect two co-chairs and four vice-chairs.
A progress report will be presented at the regular World Health Assembly annual gathering in 2023, with the final outcome presented for consideration at the 2024 WHA.
“We need a game change in our global health architecture, so that the international community can respond to future pandemics collectively, effectively and immediately,” Lotte Knudsen, the EU’s ambassador in Geneva, said in a statement.
“Today’s decision of the World Health Assembly will therefore make history. The situation and our citizens demand it: we need to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response if we do not want to find ourselves in a similar situation in the future.”