What would an international pandemic treaty look like?
World leaders make joint plea for global cooperation to tackle next major health crisis
Boris Johnson has teamed up with 23 other world leaders to call for a new global treaty to help the world prepare for future pandemics.
As the battle against Covid enters a second year, the British prime minister and counterparts including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel have issued a plea for a joint settlement like that forged after the Second World War.
In a statement published in The Telegraph, they say: “At that time, following the devastation of two world wars, political leaders came together to forge the multilateral system.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“The aims were clear: to bring countries together, to dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation - namely peace, prosperity, health and security.”
The call for stronger cross-border ties has also been published in other newspapers worldwide, including France’s Le Monde, Spain’s El Pais and Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and is being backed by World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The health boss and political leaders warn that another pandemic or global health crisis is a matter of “not if, but when”, adding: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.”
The new treaty being proposed would be “rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization”, while drawing in “other relevant organisations key to this endeavour”, and would support the principle of “health for all”, the statement continues. International health regulations and other “existing global health instruments” would underpin the treaty, ensuring “a firm and tested foundation on which we can build and improve”.
The main goal would be to “foster an all of government and all of society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics”. And achieving this aim would involve “greatly enhancing international cooperation” to improve alert systems, data-sharing and research, as well as the local, regional and global production of vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment (PPE).
The new treaty would also champion a “One Health” approach that “connects the health of humans, animals and our planet”, the world leaders add, before arguing that “we must seize this opportunity and come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation that extends beyond this crisis”.
The publication of the statement comes in the wake of a series of disagreements between the UK and the EU over Covid vaccine supplies, with Brussels threatening to prevent jabs from being exported to countries outside the bloc.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned earlier this month that Brussels had to ensure that Europe “gets its fair share” of the vaccines, and called on other nations to hand over more doses.
The minister overseeing the distribution of Covid jabs in the UK, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that making vaccines available to other countries “can happen once we have a surplus of vaccines here in the UK”.
“But obviously, we want to work in the spirit of cooperation as well, and when we do have surpluses we’ll be looking to export those, I’m sure,” he added.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - November 23, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - qualifications, tax cuts, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Long summer days in Iceland's highlands
The Week Recommends While many parts of this volcanic island are barren, there is a 'desolate beauty' to be found in every corner
By The Week UK Published
-
The Democrats: time for wholesale reform?
Talking Point In the 'wreckage' of the election, the party must decide how to rebuild
By The Week UK Published
-
What might happen if Trump eliminates the Department Of Education?
Today's Big Question The president-elect says the federal education agency is on the chopping block
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
John Prescott: was he Labour's last link to the working class?
Today's Big Quesiton 'A total one-off': tributes have poured in for the former deputy PM and trade unionist
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
What message is Trump sending with his Cabinet picks?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION By nominating high-profile loyalists like Matt Gaetz and RFK Jr., is Trump serious about creating a functioning Cabinet, or does he have a different plan in mind?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Can Europe pick up the slack in Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Trump's election raises questions about what's next in the war
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
What does the G20 summit say about the new global order?
Today's Big Question Donald Trump's election ushers in era of 'transactional' geopolitics that threatens to undermine international consensus
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK Published
-
Will Trump fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell?
Today's Big Question An 'unprecedented legal battle' could decide the economy's future
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Will Donald Trump wreck the Brexit deal?
Today's Big Question President-elect's victory could help UK's reset with the EU, but a free-trade agreement with the US to dodge his threatened tariffs could hinder it
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published