Status: May 24th, 2021 4:30 p.m.
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How can future pandemics be prevented? This is what the World Health Organization’s annual meeting is all about. Chancellor Merkel called for an international pandemic treaty to improve cooperation.
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made it clear at the beginning of the virtual meeting that the pandemic is far from over. The corona crisis will only be over when the transmission is under control in all countries.
Worldwide vaccine distribution “scandalous”
Ghebreyesus described the unequal global distribution of vaccines against Covid-19 as “scandalous”. Above all, he criticized the rich industrial nations: They had bought up the majority of the available cans. As a result, more than three quarters of all vaccines were administered in only ten countries in the world. In other countries, millions of health workers would have to wait for the important vaccination. Ghebreyesus appealed to rich states to sell vaccination doses.
Annual meeting of the WHO: Discussion on international pandemic treaty
Wolfgang Wanner, ARD Geneva, daily news 4:50 p.m., May 24, 2021
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His appeal to the international community: by September at least ten percent and by the end of the year 30 percent of the world’s population should be vaccinated. Support for the WHO Director-General came from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The Portuguese spoke of a war against the virus and called for all countries to have equal access to weapons against the pandemic.
Demand for more togetherness
Other participants focused more on the time after the corona pandemic, including Chancellor Angela Merkel: In her greeting, she warned of new pandemics and called on the world to better prepare for them. “This pandemic has not yet been overcome; and it will not be the last either,” said Merkel in her video message. “After the pandemic is before the pandemic,” emphasized the Chancellor: “We should be as well prepared as possible for the next one.”
French President Emmanuel Macron argued similarly. He called on WHO to play a central role in better preparedness for future global health crises. For this, the UN organization must be appropriately financed.
Merkel for international pandemic treaty
In this context, Merkel took up the idea of a global health council: It could check whether the WHO countries are adequately preparing for future health threats. The Chancellor also spoke out in favor of an international pandemic treaty that should bring countries to better cooperation. It should oblige states to warn each other more quickly about health risks. However, the proposal is not undisputed. Some governments reject it because they fear a loss of their sovereignty.
“Leadership in Global Health Care”
Merkel also emphasized the importance of the WHO. The pandemic has shown how important international cooperation is. “The WHO should therefore continue to take a leading role in global health care,” said the Chancellor. For this, the organization must be sustainably supported financially and personally. In the course of the Corona crisis, Germany has become the WHO’s largest donor.
At the World Health Assembly, the 194 WHO members regularly discuss the strategy of the UN organization. This year the meeting, which will last a good week until June 1st, will be largely virtual.
With information from Dietrich Karl Mäurer,
ARD studio Zurich
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World Health Assembly launch – calls for solidarity and WHO empowerment
Karl Dietrich Mäurer, ARD Zurich, May 24, 2021 3:58 p.m.
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