After putting an end to three years of “crisis, suffering and loss” linked to Covid-19 in 2023, Europe recorded 30 times more cases of measles in 2023 than in 2022. The world must properly prepare for next pandemics, only here… Monday, on the first day of the meeting in Geneva of the Executive Committee of the World Health Organization, the head of the WHO was pessimistic about the capacity of member countries to find an agreement, while “the urgency aroused by the Covid-19 massacre fades”. But how can the world prepare for future pandemics? What is this agreement? And why haven’t we finally finished with Covid-19 or measles? 20 minutes make the point.
What is this agreement?
The 194 member states of the WHO have agreed to negotiate an international agreement aimed at ensuring that countries are better equipped to face the next health disaster, or even prevent it. The text currently being negotiated would aim to guarantee better global preparation and a more equitable response to future pandemics, that of Covid-19 having quickly shown the limits of global solidarity with the appearance of the first vaccines, in insufficient quantities.
The aim is to seal this agreement at the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, which will meet on May 27. By then, world leaders had committed to completing negotiations on the pandemic agreement and finalizing amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) by May. These two initiatives should make it possible to avoid the mix-ups and dysfunctions which have slowed down the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
What is the purpose of this agreement?
In Geneva, WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus clarified that all countries need the capacity to detect and share pathogens presenting a risk, as well as rapid access to tests, treatments and vaccines, calling to a “strong agreement that will help protect our children and grandchildren from future pandemics”. “The year 2024 offers a unique opportunity to close these gaps,” he added. And the pandemic deal is designed to close gaps in collaboration, cooperation and fairness. »
The doctor also took the opportunity to describe as “completely false” the claims, circulating on social networks and elsewhere, according to which the agreement would cede the sovereignty of member states to the WHO or give it the power to impose confinements and vaccination mandates.
Why is it so urgent?
Because there are only two two-week sessions left to do “extreme” work and because the member countries are struggling to agree. According to the WHO, time is running out for young people. “There are still outstanding questions that must be resolved,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But the failure of the pandemic deal and the IHR amendments would be a missed opportunity that future generations may not forgive us for. » “You will not reach a consensus if everyone remains stuck to their positions. Everyone will have to give something, otherwise no one will get anything,” he warned, asking countries to show courage and compromise to prevent this agreement from “failing”. And to conclude: “We cannot allow this historic agreement, this important step in global health, to be sabotaged. »
What are the disagreements?
They mainly lie in the lack of clear commitments. The Dutchman Roland Driece, who co-chairs the negotiations, stressed that the project had condensed a seven-year process into two years. The agreement would thus lack ambition and, above all, details.
European countries also want more money invested in pandemic prevention. African countries want to ensure they have access to the knowledge and funding necessary to make prevention work for them too. And of course, adequate access to resources such as vaccines and treatments.
So, where are we with Covid-19?
In May 2023, the WHO declared the end of Covid-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, its highest alert level. But at the same time, the organization continues to warn against excessive laxity towards a disease which continues to claim thousands of lives around the world. Covid-19 remains “a threat”, says the WHO, four years after the appearance of a disease which has claimed millions of victims and ravaged the global economy. However, it is no longer seen as a priority.
“This virus, SARS-CoV-2, is currently circulating in all countries and still poses a threat,” warned Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO scientist responsible for leading the fight against the pandemic. We must remain vigilant because the virus circulates, evolves and changes. » There are currently three variants of the Covid-19 virus (XBB.1.5, XXB.1.16 and EG.5) called “of interest”, that is to say subject to enhanced surveillance.
A fourth (BA.2.86) must join this cohort even if he does not present increased severity of the disease. Maria Van Kerkhove indicated that 13.5 billion Covid-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide since the first injections at the end of 2020.
And where are we on the mpox or measles side?
The WHO lifted the alert regarding mpox (long called monkeypox) in May 2023. The organization, however, expressed concern in December about the risks of international spread of the epidemic which is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo and whose sexual transmission is accelerating.
The number of measles cases has exploded in Europe, the European branch of the WHO warned on Tuesday. For the whole of 2023, 42,200 cases were recorded in 41 of the 53 member countries of the region, which extends to Central Asia, almost 45 times more than the previous year.
In 2022, 941 cases had been reported. Kazakhstan and Russia are the most affected countries with more than 10,000 cases each. With 183 cases, the United Kingdom is the country in Western Europe where the resurgence of the disease, considered to be eliminated in 2021, is the most obvious. Finally, good to know: the United Nations health agency has approved new vaccines against malaria, dengue and meningitis.