WHO’s Tedros says “time has come” for pandemic treaty

FILE PHOTO: World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks as he attends the World Health Assembly (WHA) amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Geneva, Switzerland, May 24, 2021. Christopher Black/World Health Organization/Handout via REUTERS

GENEVA (Reuters) – The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Monday for speedily launching global negotiations to agree on an international treaty on pandemic preparedness and response.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, also told a closing session of its annual week-long ministerial assembly that the U.N. agency required sustainable and flexible funding.

“The one recommendation I believe will do the most to strengthen WHO and global health security is the recommendation of a treaty on pandemic preparedness and response which could also strengthen relations between member states and foster cooperation. This is an idea whose time has come,” Tedros said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Emma Farge)

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