Warning That UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemics May be ‘Squandered’ Opportunity

As United Nations (UN) member states meet in New York on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the political declaration to be adopted at the General Assembly’s High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Pandemics in September, there are growing concerns that the current draft is weak and proposes an over-reliance on the World Health Organization (WHO) to manage future pandemics. The current draft – pared down from 58 to 15 pages – has dispensed with a number of critical concerns, particularly about how future pandemics will be governed, located almost entirely with the WHO. … Pointing out that the success of the WHO negotiations currently underway to develop a pandemic accord is not guaranteed, Sirleaf and Clark reiterate their view that “sustained highest-level political leadership on pandemic preparedness and response” is essential between and during health crises. … Describing the UN HLM as “a one-time and historic opportunity to commit to lasting and transformative change to pandemic preparedness and response”, they add that if member states “only tinker with the language” of the current draft, “the efforts to agree to the declaration will be wasted”.