By Muhammad Amaan
Member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday adopted a new pandemic treaty aimed at avoiding the panic and disarray seen during the COVID-19 crisis.
The agreement was accepted without a formal vote on the second day of the members’ annual World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland.
As the conference chair asked whether there were any objections, silence followed, prompting him to declare the treaty adopted by consensus.
The treaty outlines measures for coordinated procurement of protective equipment during future pandemics, enhanced monitoring of diseases in both animals and humans.
There should also be the transfer of medical technology to ensure that medicines and vaccines can be produced in low-income countries.
However, several contentious details remain unresolved and are set to be negotiated separately over the next year as part of an annex to the treaty.
These include a new mechanism to accelerate vaccine production and ensure equitable distribution to poorer nations.
Meanwhile, the United Nations health agency said it was forced to reduce the number of employees due to a lack of money, and the number of departments will be reduced from 76 to 34.
The Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said this on Monday.
“As you know, we have been engaging in a major structural realignment, guided by an in-depth analysis of priorities.
The prioritisation exercise has informed the development of a new streamlined structure for headquarters, which reduced the executive management team from 14 to 7.
The number of departments from 76 to 34, Tedros said in a report to the World Health Assembly.
