At the UN agency’s annual conference, the director of the World Health Organization praised nations for their “historic” decision to accept a significant budget increase and encouraged them to implement the changes necessary to be ready for the next pandemic.
Several weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic’s global emergency designation was lifted, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated it was time to move talks toward the goal of avoiding the next pandemic in a speech to the gathering.
The next epidemic “will come knocking,” the WHO director-general warned in a significant speech to the organization’s member nations. “We cannot kick this can down the road.”
Who will implement the necessary modifications if we don’t? He said, “And if we don’t make them now, when?”
The 10-day World Health Assembly in Geneva, which falls on the same weekend as the WHO’s 75th anniversary, will discuss issues related to future pandemics, the eradication of polio, and supporting actions to lessen the health emergency brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A pandemic treaty that is up for approval at the assembly next year is now being drafted by the 194 member nations of the WHO.
This generation has firsthand knowledge of how terrible a tiny virus can be, thus it is crucial that they agree to a pandemic pact, according to Tedros.
Countries accepted a $6.83 billion budget for 2024–2025 at the same summit, putting to the test their vows to improving the WHO financing model, which was seen as being too tiny and unduly dependent on the whims of donors.
According to a preliminary agreement reached last year in return for a promise to changes including on budget, governance, and financial policies, the budget includes a 20% rise in member states’ required levies.
Future increases, according to US Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Michele J. Sison, “will be contingent upon continued reform progress.” Countries in Central and South America demanded that the WHO address what they referred to as the region’s ongoing underfunding.
