By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRIME MINISTER Dr Keith Rowley has signed on to a pandemic treaty along with 24 other global leaders as the world continues to battle with the Covid-19 virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in a release on Monday stated that the international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response was to build a more robust global health architecture that will protect future generations, world leaders said in a commentary published on Monday in several newspapers around the world.
In the article, the leaders stated, “There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone. The question is not if, but when. Together, we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The Covid-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.”
WHO stated that the main goal of the treaty would be to foster a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach to strengthen national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics which was an opportunity for the world to come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation extended beyond the crisis.
According to the article, the treaty “would be rooted in the constitution of the WHO, drawing in other relevant organisations key to this endeavour, in support of the principle of health for all. Existing global health instruments, especially the International Health Regulations, would underpin such a treaty, ensuring a firm and tested foundation on which we can build and improve.”
Other than Dr Rowley, the commentary has been signed by Prime Minister of Fiji J V Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Portugal António Luís Santos da Costa, Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi, President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, President of France Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, President of the European Council Charles Michel, Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in, President of Chile Sebastián Piñera, President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado Quesada, Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, President of Tunisia Kais Saied, President of Senegal Macky Sall, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, and WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
