The head of the World Health Organization insisted on Monday it was “now or never” to strike a landmark global accord on tackling future pandemics, after the United States withdrew from negotiations.
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said no country could protect itself from the next pandemic on its own – three days after US President Donald Trump’s administration told the UN health agency it was leaving the pandemic agreement talks.
“We are at a crucial point as you move to finalise the pandemic agreement in time for the World Health Assembly” in May, Tedros told WHO members at the opening of the week-long 13th round of negotiations in Geneva.
“It really is a case of now or never. But I am confident that you will choose ‘now’ because you know what is at stake.
“You remember the hard-won lessons of Covid-19, which left an estimated 20 million of our brothers and sisters dead, and which continues to kill.”
A further one-week session is planned before the WHO’s annual assembly.
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