Pandemic accord hangs in the balance: WHO

The head of the World Health Organization yesterday voiced fears that countries will fail to strike a pandemic preparedness agreement by May, saying "future generations may not forgive us". Shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic, the WHO's 194 member states are negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next health catastrophe, or to prevent it altogether. The plan was to seal the agreement at the 2024 annual meeting of the World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision-making body, which convenes on May 27. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said time was running out -- and if nobody is prepared to budge, the whole project risks going nowhere. At the opening of the WHO's executive board meeting in Geneva, Tedros reminded countries that world leaders at the UNGA had agreed a commitment to resolve negotiations on the pandemic accord, and amendments to the IHR, by May this year. "I must say I'm concerned that member states may not meet that commitment. Time is very short. And there are several outstanding issues that remain to be resolved," Tedros said. Failure to deliver the  agreement would be "a missed opportunity for which future generations may not forgive us," he said.