LONDON & MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As world leaders gather for general debate at the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention (GPHC) urges member states to demand multilateral solutions for Global Health Security in the form of an international treaty or agreement. An international agreement to end this pandemic and prevent future pandemics must be negotiated and signed by Heads of State because pandemics affect every aspect of society and government, and because whole government commitments to pandemic management are required.
Heads of State are in a unique position to take the world out of the current crisis and to also prevent another catastrophic pandemic from taking place.
We are encouraged by President Joe Biden’s call to rally the world in a COVID-19 Summit to end this pandemic as rapidly as possible and to effectively prepare to prevent the next one. The time has come for national leaders, international institutions, the private sector, and non-governmental actors to forge strong and lasting solutions through binding international commitments.
With nearly 5 million people dead and billions affected by the social, economic, and health related consequences of this pandemic, the time has come for the world to elevate Global Health Security to the same level of importance and multilateral cooperation as has been shown for nuclear arms control, international trade, and climate change. No single country or international agency can prevent another catastrophe like the COVID-19 pandemic on its own. It is vital that discussions of international agreements to end this pandemic and prevent future ones, include compliance mechanisms, both incentives and disincentives. This is the only way to ensure that countries will stop future outbreaks from developing into pandemics.
The time for action is now.
The Panel for a Global Public Health Convention (GPHC) is an independent coalition of global leaders working to strengthen the world’s ability to prevent, prepare, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks before they become widespread pandemics. The Panel was founded in 2020 in response to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim of bridging critical gaps in the global public health architecture and policy frameworks by promulgating a new global public health treaty or convention in an effort to ensure another pandemic of such magnitude does not happen again. To learn more, visit www.gphcpanel.org, and follow us on Twitter @GPHC_Panel.
