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Global wake-up call: Pandemic treaty lacks accountability
Talks over the draft treaty on global preparedness and response to future pandemics has reached a stalemate, but world leaders must come together in unity and solidarity to push through the remaining issues this year, lest another health emergency arrives before we are ready.
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A health worker prepares to administer the locally made COVID-19 vaccine Inavac on Dec. 29, 2023, during an inoculation program for workers at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali. (Antara/Fikri Yusuf)
W
e are aware there will be new pandemics and major health emergencies at one time or another. We must therefore have a treaty on a joint organized response to a global health crisis that is legally binding under international law.
This treaty should prioritize the public interest and the balance between countries, must be anchored in the principles of fairness, inclusiveness and transparency, and guarantee universal and equitable access to diagnostics, vaccines and medicines.
Member states of the World Health Organization met in Geneva in 2022 and agreed to develop an international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparation and response that would be “a legally binding pact between countries working together”. A draft was developed after extensive consultation with member states, public health experts, academics and citizens.
After various revisions, a new draft of the pandemic treaty was recently released to member states. This new draft treaty was expected to lead to greater accountability from governments.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response recommends that pandemic governance should be led by heads of state to ensure it received political attention. But in the new text, treaty compliance oversight is lamentably left to the Third Committee of the World Health Assembly (WHA).
While all member states are represented on the committee, their representation mostly comprises health ministers, technocrats or diplomats that have little real influence over the actions of their governments in related sectors.
In the run-up to the WHA on May 24 to 31, which is slated to approve an agreement that until recently seemed like a done deal, differences between rich and poor countries, the distortion of geopolitical context and the greed driving interference of private interests threaten to shatter two years of negotiations and leave the multilateral system defenseless in the face of the next global pandemic.
