June 1,2021

Andrew Campbell 

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared on May 31 that the time has come to begin negotiations on an international treaty to improve pandemic preparedness as part of overall reforms anticipated by member states.
He stated at the 74th World Health Assembly that the agency faced a huge challenge in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and that it required sustainable and flexible funding.

Earlier in the week-long annual meeting, which ran from May 24 to June 1, health ministers agreed to study independent experts' recommendations for ambitious reforms to strengthen both the WHO and countries' capacity to control new viruses, reaffirming WHO's role as the directing and coordinating authority in health during emergencies and beyond.

The resolution proposed by the European Union was unanimously approved. Meanwhile, ministers from the WHO's 194 member states will begin a year-long process on November 29 to decide and negotiate on the pandemic treaty. It is critical to launch a pandemic treaty in order to strengthen WHO's global disease surveillance, as well as its authority and capacity for pandemic preparedness and response. The director-general also stated that WHO cannot grow stronger without long-term funding.

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