(KPL/Prensa Latina) Over 190 countries have approved the text of the first global pandemic treaty in history, as part of World Health Organization (WHO) negotiations to reach this consensus, the entity announced today. This treaty will help improve coordination among countries and ensure a fairer distribution of resources available to face the next pandemic, which scientists have warned will occur sooner or later with a new pathogen.

After three years of intense negotiations, WHO members took a major step forward in efforts to make the world safer from pandemics by forging a draft agreement for consideration at the World Health Assembly in May, the organization said in its initial response.

The idea, launched in December 2020, the first year of the pandemic, was endorsed by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and shortly thereafter the organization’s member states approved the start of negotiations, setting a deadline of 2024 to complete them, although this was later extended by another year.

In WHO’s view, the treaty is supported by historical and epidemiological evidence; it is confident that the Covid-19 pandemic will not be the last and believes that an international treaty would help better prepare the world for future pandemics.

Pandemics pose a threat to societies and economies, and cooperation and solidarity are essential to combat them.

KPL