<\/p>\n
The non-binding declaration was adopted by 153 votes in favour and three against, with two abstentions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Argentina, Israel and the United States (US) opposed the text, while New Zealand and Paraguay abstained.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The declaration was initially expected to be adopted by consensus during a high-level meeting on September 25. Objections from the US and other countries forced the matter to a General Assembly vote. \u201cNo country, no matter how big it might be or how prepared it might be, can alone address a threat that knows no borders,\u201d Chile said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The declaration calls for cooperation guided by scientific evidence, equity and respect for human rights. It also welcomes the adoption of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Pandemic Agreement in 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWHO welcomes this strong commitment by UN Member States to continue working together on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,\u201d WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world has come a long way since COVID-19. We urge countries to now fulfil the commitments they have made.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tedros called for negotiations to be concluded on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex to the Pandemic Agreement.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The proposed system would allow countries to share pathogen samples and genetic data while receiving access to resulting vaccines, treatments and diagnostic products.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45977,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-47832","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has adopted a political declaration calling for stronger international cooperation to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics.\r\n","published_date":"","news_description":"The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has adopted a political declaration calling for stronger international cooperation to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47832","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":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47834,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47832\/revisions\/47834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}