Extracts below and a comment from me. Read in full: https://live-the-independent-panel.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/20...
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The world is failing to identify, prevent and stop outbreaks and tackle pandemic threats
To all Heads of State and Government, Ministers of State, Finance and Health, Heads of international organizations, and agencies who have the power to prevent and contain disease outbreaks:
In Geneva and in New York, it’s time to make decisions that will prevent and stop infectious disease outbreaks from killing people, draining economies and further fraying societal trust.
The incremental changes to date to the international system for outbreak and pandemic prevention and readiness have not been enough.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the death of some 22 million people and cost trillions. It was a “never again” moment.
And yet, even as the international community negotiates the future of pandemic preparedness, a preventable disaster is again playing out.
The “Bundibugyo” strain of Ebola virus — not new, but known — is killing people who are already vulnerable to insecurity and poverty. This outbreak will cost many lives, hundreds of millions of dollars, and many months of effort to contain...
There is an incomplete Pandemic Agreement...
At a time when humanity can sequence pathogens in hours, develop vaccines in months, and deploy artificial intelligence across entire economies, the world already has many of the tools it needs. The question is whether leaders will choose to invest in and use them.
We can no longer accept this cycle of panic and neglect.
In New York this September at the UNGA High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response and in Geneva through the WHO Pandemic Agreement process, we are asking you to:
- Finalize and ratify the WHO Pandemic Agreement — as rapidly as possible and implement it.
- Establish fair, predictable, and accessible financing...
- Implement the One Health approach...
- Accelerate a pathway to regional self-reliance...
- Lay the groundwork to establish an outbreak and pandemic risk and readiness monitoring framework...
We also call on all sides involved in conflict in the region affected by Bundibugyo Ebola to agree to a ceasefire so this outbreak can be ended.
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COMMENT (NPW): The #1 issue is the ratification of the WHO pandemic agreement. As I understand it, the science behind the agreement is sound and not widely contested. However, member states, notably the United States are against it for political reasons, including the unfounded fear of WHO having influence over domestic policy and concerns around data-sharing obligations.
A previous editorial in The Lancet concludes: 'Far from making amends, a handful of powerful countries are sabotaging the best chance to translate the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic into legally binding commitments that will protect us all. The treaty is an opportunity that must not be squandered.' https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00410-0/fulltext
We have an example of a failure of global evidence-informed policymaking due not to a lack of evidence, but to political interests, driven by a lack of understanding, a failure to recognise the need for international cooperation, and a blind self-interest.
Arguably, the open letter above would have been much stronger if it called out the countries that have blocked the agreement and demolished their arguments for doing so with sound counter-arguments, rather than directing the letter to the majority of countries and WHO that have been pushing for an agreement all along.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org