The WHO chief hopes to get through an agreement on global health security – a direct consequence of the corona pandemic. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls the proposal “historic”.
“We simply cannot continue as we have done before,” he said in his opening speech.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also urged the member states via video link to advance the positions.
— I hope that the discussions on pandemic prevention, preparation and response lead to a strong, multilateral approach (to the problems) in order to save lives, said Guterres.
Among the delegates are heads of state and government, many of them from countries that were hit hard by the pandemic. Officially, seven million lives were claimed in the covid pandemic, but independent calculations believe that upwards of twenty million lives were claimed by the consequences of the virus.
Officially, seven million victims were claimed in the covid pandemic, but the real figure is believed to be closer to twenty million.
— We must remember that we must build the house before the storm, not when the storm rages, said Timor-Leste’s President José Ramos-Horta.
The proposal on global health security, which will be negotiated during the meeting in Geneva, proposes international agreements to ensure that preparations for another pandemic are better planned.
The meeting lasts for ten days. The goal is to negotiate an agreement that can be adopted at the next annual meeting, in 2024. But difficult negotiations await. The critics of the proposal believe that it encroaches on national sovereignty and that it can be used politically.