<\/p>\n
In a joint letter issued on Monday, ahead of the G7 Summit taking place June 16-17, the two leaders urged heads of state from the G7, G20, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and other nations to show political will to conclude negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe write to you together\u2026 with one shared conviction: that the world must finish what it started,\u201d they said, referring to commitments made after the COVID\u201119 pandemic.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted more than a year ago, aims to strengthen global cooperation in preventing and responding to pandemics. However, the agreement cannot come into force without finalising the PABS annex, which governs how countries share pathogen data and access resulting medical tools.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The leaders said the COVID\u201119 pandemic, which claimed an estimated up to 20 million lives globally, underscored the need for stronger preparedness systems.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cTo respond to future pandemics in time, countries must be able to quickly identify pathogens\u2026 and share their genetic information so scientists can develop tools,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They called for \u201cpolitical will at the highest level\u201d, emphasising that technical negotiations alone will not resolve remaining issues.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSolidarity is our best immunity, but solidarity has to be chosen,\u201d they said, urging leaders to empower negotiators to reach a final agreement when talks resume from July 6 to July 17.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The letter also stressed the importance of equity, noting that countries that share pathogens must be guaranteed fair access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics developed from that data.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PABS system rests on a simple, fair bargain,\u201d they said. \u201cThose who share\u2026 must be able to trust that the benefits will reach their own people.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The leaders warned that without clear rules, access to pathogens and related benefits remains uncertain and fragmented, slowing global response efforts during crises.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They also highlighted growing risks, including climate change, evolving land use and advances in biotechnology, which increase the likelihood of future outbreaks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cScientists estimate there is close to a one in four chance of another pandemic within the coming decade,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Calling for urgency, they urged leaders to treat the July negotiations as a deadline rather than a milestone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next pandemic will not wait for us,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The letter concludes by appealing to governments to honour commitments made after COVID\u201119 and ensure the world is better prepared.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made a promise to the millions we lost\u2026 Let us be the generation that keeps that promise,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37154,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-37153","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva have called on global leaders to urgently finalise a key outstanding component of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, warning that delays leave the world vulnerable to future health crises.\r\n","published_date":"","news_description":"World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva have called on global leaders to urgently finalise a key outstanding component of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, warning that delays leave the world vulnerable to future health crises.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37155,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/37153\/revisions\/37155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=37153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}