GENEVA: Global reform efforts to better ward off new pandemic threats have been slow and fragmented, leaving the world as unprepared as when Covid-19 first surfaced, a report...
GENEVA: Global reform efforts to better ward off new pandemic threats have been slow and fragmented, leaving the world as unprepared as when Covid-19 first surfaced, a report warned Wednesday.A year ago, an independent expert panel presented a damning report to the World Health Organization's main annual assembly complaining that poor coordination and bad decisions had allowed the Covid pandemic to swell to such a catastrophic scale.
Changes to the International Health Regulations are being considered, and negotiations are under way towards a new 'legal instrument' -- like a treaty or other form of agreement -- aimed at streamlining the global approach to pandemic preparedness and response.'No time for complacency'But Clark warned that these changes were all moving at a glacial pace, with the WHO budget change, for instance, not expected to be fully implemented for nearly a decade.