Three and a half years after the outbreak of the coronavirus, and while the epidemic continues this fall, States want to learn the lessons of this pandemic which has brought the global economy to its knees and had sometimes terrible social and health consequences. An agreement on the prevention of pandemics is thus on track at the UN.
In 2020, the appearance of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in conditions that still remain mysterious today, led to the astonishment of the entire world as this unprecedented epidemic progressed and would paralyze the economy. worldwide, seize up health systems and force populations into grueling confinements. Many countries then made the bitter realization that they suffered from weaknesses and unpreparedness to respond effectively to such a scourge.
First step towards a historic cooperation agreement
While Covid-19 is still very present this fall, bouncing from variant to variant, with a resumption of contaminations, particularly in France, the world seems since to have learned the lessons of this pandemic… to prepare for the next ones which will not fail to appear in the years and decades to come.
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On September 20, at the United Nations General Assembly, world leaders made a historic commitment to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics by strengthening cooperation, the coordination, governance and international investments necessary to no longer have to relive the devastating health and socio-economic effects caused by Covid-19.
“The very first summit of heads of state on prevention, preparation and response to pandemics marks a historic step in the action taken urgently to ensure better security and better protection for all peoples of the planet against the devastating effects of pandemics”, declared Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), stressing that national public authorities and multilateral partners have already “started to lay the foundations for a safer world by establishing the Pandemic Fund, the WHO Information Center on Pandemics and Epidemics, the WHO BioHub system for voluntary sharing of new biological materials and the Technology Transfer Center for mRNA Vaccines. »
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The deadliest epidemics
So many tools to the credit of the WHO, which now plays a central role on the subject. At the end of November 2022, the organization launched a global scientific process aimed “at updating the list of priority pathogens, namely agents likely to cause outbreaks or pandemics, in order to guide global investments, research and development ( R&D), particularly in vaccines, screening tests and treatments. »
More than 300 scientists had reviewed “the evidence on more than 25 families of viruses and bacteria, as well as disease X” (an unknown pathogen that could cause a serious international epidemic). This long work made it possible to update the list of these viruses published for the first time in 2017.
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Identify zoonoses
Scientists are particularly interested in zoonoses, these diseases whose pathogen (bacteria, virus or parasite) can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa. Between 500,000 and 800,000 viruses of animal origin could affect humans… “60% of current infectious diseases in humans are zoonoses. We cannot treat human health without worrying about animal health and vice versa,” explained Gilles Salvat, scientific director of animal health and welfare at the National Food Safety Agency, environment and work (ANSES), thus underlining the relevance of the concept of global health (One Health) which wants to think about health at the interface between that of animals, humans and their environment.
But to realize this scientific ambition, we also need a clear institutional framework, that is to say a convention, an agreement or any other international instrument legally binding under international law. The commitment of States this month is therefore a first step that remains to be realized. “Such an instrument can strengthen international cooperation in a number of priority areas, such as surveillance, alerts and response, but also general confidence in the international health system,” says the Council of Europe.
Such an agreement, which raises strong financial and sovereignty issues, could be signed next year.
2023-09-28 04:41:32
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