EPI, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 360: Henvendelse af 12/4-2022 fra Global Public Health Convention om deres publikation: The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action

Epidemiudvalget 2021-22
EPI Alm.del Bilag 360
Offentligt

The

Pandemic

Convention

We Need Now

A Call to Action

April 2022

EPI, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 360: Henvendelse af 12/4-2022 fra Global Public Health Convention om deres publikation: The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action

https://gphcpanel.org

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Contents

Executive Summary

The Pandemic Convention We Need

Non-Negotiable Principles

Current Gaps and Essential Solutions

Governance and independent monitoring

Finance

Rapid and consistent public health measures

Sharing for the benefit of all

WHO’s independence and authority

Preventing virus spillovers at their source

Accountability and Compliance:

Mutual Assurance for a More Secure World

Preparedness

Detection and alert

Immediate and ongoing response

Incentives and compliance

Conclusion

About the Panel

References

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Executive

Summary

For more than two years, we’ve endured a pandemic that could have

been prevented. Had the right systems been in place, the world could

have entered

2022 looking back at SARS-CoV-2 as a contained outbreak,

instead of straining to manage hundreds of millions of new infections.

The emergence of a novel, deadly pathogen was inevitable. The slow,

unequal and uncoordinated response, the consequent global spread of the

virus and resulting loss of millions of lives and trillions of dollars, could have

been prevented. Values of fairness and equity were all but forgotten within

and among nations.

This cannot and does not have to happen again. This pandemic has shown

the necessity of a new international architecture that incentivizes effective

preparedness and response, secures mutual assurance, includes financial

incentives to support low- and middle-income countries, disincentives for

non-adherence and brings cohesion to a system in disarray.

Through adherence to a new Pandemic Convention, the world has the

chance to stop an outbreak from becoming a pandemic.

Should a new

threat spread beyond borders, a Convention can ensure our collective

response is equitable, and protects lives and livelihoods everywhere.

Here, our Panel offers solutions, with a particular focus on accountability.

First, we believe in four non-negotiable principles:

solidarity, transpar-

ency, accountability, and equity. It is essential that all countries, regard-

less of income level or perceived power, share equal decision-making, and

access equitable opportunities for preparedness, alert, and response.

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Next are essential areas a Framework Convention must address.

The

system requires cohesive governance that includes an independent mon-

itoring, verification and assessment body. There must be incentives and

not punishment for real-time, transparent reporting of new health threats.

Countries also must have an obligation to implement public health mea-

sures that stop spread, internally and internationally. They must also share

information, sequences and samples rapidly and systematically, and all

must benefit from the subsequent research and development.

Substantial, predictable, and sustainable finance is essential, for prepared-

ness, response and to fund the global health architecture. WHO must have

the financing to be more independent.

Finally, a Convention without accountability will have little or no impact.

Our Panel is the first to offer practical ideas for accountability at every

stage, balancing a positively incentivized system and

disincentive

mea-

sures for noncompliance when required.

While we appreciate the complexity of negotiating a Convention, we

also urge haste.

With current systems, we are little better prepared now to

face a new pandemic threat than we were two years ago.

Countries must now focus and turn this historic opportunity into a

Convention with finance and accountability. Evidence-based lessons from

the COVID-19 pandemic can guide the way. So too must the memories of

the millions of people who have died due to a pandemic that did not have

to happen.

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The Pandemic

Convention We Need

A Pandemic Convention is essential to shape the world we want. It’s

dangerously overdue, and it is now urgent that Member States focus on

a new legally binding agreement that provides mutual assurance, and

assistance, in a system that keeps everyone, in every income bracket,

in every country, much safer from pandemic threats.

Other groups of global experts take the same view.

The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

(IPPPR) recommended that Member States “adopt a Pandemic Framework

Convention.”

(1)

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) under-

scores that one key solution to a safer world is that “WHO Member States

should adopt an international agreement on health emergency prepared-

ness and response.”

( 2 )

The Pan-European Commission on Health and

Sustainable Development equally called for Member States to “develop a

Pandemic Treaty that is truly global,” that “enables compliance.”

(3)

These voices join many others who have equally called for a Pandemic

Convention, some for years, including leading health policy experts.

(4)

We are heartened that a process has begun. Now, urgent progress is

required to negotiate a Convention that will stop a future outbreak from

becoming a pandemic.

Our Panel understands the complexity of these negotiations. Member

States must consider and ensure complementarity of existing regulations,

related instruments, and trade and regulatory regimes.

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Where there is consensus, we ask that Member States work rapidly to

amend the International Health Regulations and strengthen them. Areas

requiring negotiation must be addressed in a Convention.

A successful Pandemic Convention can arise only with meaningful, formal

consultation with Member States, experts, relevant organizations, regional

bodies and with civil society. We also see merit in a Framework Convention

that makes it possible to cover the essentials now, with options for more

detailed protocols in due course.

The focus must remain on one outcome: that global organizations, regions

and countries have and abide by the binding international legal tools

required to work together, be held accountable for results, and ensure a

health threat never again becomes a devastating pandemic.

WHO / Christopher Black

In a landmark moment on 1 December 2021, at a

rare Special Session of the World Health Assembly,

diplomats rose in unison to applaud the decision to

start a global process to draft and negotiate a new

pandemic accord.

The WHO Director-General hailed this ‘once-in-

a-generation’ opportunity.

This decision is now being implemented by an

Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) with a

two-year mandate to deliver an accord for consid-

eration by the World Health Assembly in May 2024.

(5)

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Non-Negotiable

Principles

The rights and obligations of all actors must be anchored to a principled

code of behaviour, which is currently lacking.

These are the principles of

solidarity, transparency, accountability, and

equity.

Given the now demonstrated, grave consequences of non-adher-

ence,

we believe these principles are non-negotiable.

SOLIDARITY

is unity based on common interests, objectives, and

standards.

Pathogens seek people to infect whatever their nationality or

economic status. Solidarity is in every nation’s self-interest. Conversely, by

preventing cooperation, nationalism allows new pathogens to thrive, mutate,

and continue to circulate — locking every country into the economic, social

and health harms of an ongoing pandemic.

TRANSPARENCY:

Rapid, real-time detection and alert of a new pathogen

is a critical moment that determines whether a threat may be contained, or

whether it spreads nationally and internationally. For COVID-19, this did not

happen.

(6)

Delayed reporting, lack of sharing and cover-ups erode trust and

the very foundations of international agreements.

(7)

Transparency is essential for rapid action, and to promote trust

within and between States, international organizations and other actors.

Transparency must guide every actor at every step in the process, from

readiness, to detection and alert, to short-term and ongoing response. It is

essential going forward that governments, scientists, institutions, the pri-

vate sector, civil society, and others rapidly and openly share all scientific

information, including pathogen samples and genomic sequencing data.

Incentives for transparent reporting and sharing are essential.

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The first priority is for equitable funding for

every country to reach the requirements to

detect, report and contain outbreaks.

EQUITY:

inclusivity and fairness

recognizes the inherent right of every

country, of every income level, of every population, to participate in the sys-

tem on a fair and equal basis; to access the same levels of preparedness,

ability to detect and alert, and to respond to a health threat. Failures in equity

to both prepare for and respond to this pandemic have led directly to severe

illness, deaths, terrible stresses on health and financial systems and society,

and a two-tiered recovery, most affecting the disproportionately vulnerable.

There are two main areas to remedy. The first is to prioritise equitable

funding for every country to reach the requirements to detect, report

and contain outbreaks. The second is equitable access to outbreak and

pandemic tools such as personal protective equipment, tests, treatments

and vaccines.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

is missing in existing norms and regulations. There

were no consequences for gaps in preparedness and response. Travel

restrictions, advised against under the IHR, were implemented without con-

sistent explanation as required, including for example, when South Africa

transparently reported the new Omicron variant. The scramble for pan-

demic supplies including vaccines was relentless.

Agreements are therefore required on who is required to take what

action and when across a range of key moments.

These include account-

ability for preparation; for transparent and real-time rapid reporting of

health threats; acting according to evidence-based public health measures

to prevent outbreaks from becoming pandemics; for sharing of information,

sequences, specimens and samples; for equitable distribution of pandemic

goods; and for financing the system.

Hand-in-hand with accountability goes compliance. This is described more

fully in pages 18–22.

To ensure mutual assurance, all actors must play

their roles and be prepared to be accountable.

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Non-Negotiable Principles

The rights and obligations of all actors must be

anchored to a principled code of behaviour.

Solidarity

Transparency

Equity

Accountability

Solidarity:

is unity based on common interests, objectives, and standards.

Transparency:

is essential for rapid action, and to promote trust within and between

States, international organizations and other actors.

Equity:

inclusivity and fairness recognizes the inherent right of every country, of every

income level, of every population, to participate in the system on a fair and equal basis;

to access the same levels of preparedness, ability to detect and alert, and to respond

to a health threat.

Accountability:

Agreements are therefore required on who is required to take what

action and when across a range of key moments. Hand-in-hand with accountability

goes compliance. To ensure mutual assurance, all actors must play their roles and be

prepared to be accountable.

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Current Gaps and

Essential Solutions

The world’s ability to detect and respond to outbreaks is as strong as

its weakest link, and any gap, in any country, is a risk to all countries.

Gaps have been identified in previous emergencies, including the Ebola

crisis in 2014–2015, and remained largely unaddressed.

(8)

Many reviews

of the global COVID-19 response have again identified specific and alarm-

ing gaps and deficits along the entire continuum of pandemic prepared-

ness and response. A Convention must systematically address and solve

these problems.

Here, we briefly outline some of the gaps, and propose the essential

solutions a pandemic convention must address.

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Governance and independent monitoring

Gaps:

There are no governance mechanisms with the authority and capacity

to provide global leadership to manage pandemic threats,

or to provide

the independent oversight and accountability required to motivate a system

based on mutual assurance.

Solutions:

Governance:

The overall responsibility for the implementation of the

Convention lies with the Heads of State and Government who should form

the Conference of Parties. This body should provide oversight of the func-

tioning of the Convention and its protocols. It will also coordinate closely

with the norm-setting and technical assistance provided by WHO. Given

the imperative for accountability, the governance structure must coordinate

closely with any eventual financial resource allocation body, and with bod-

ies that may be charged to create or have influence on an equitable end-to-

end research and development platform.

Independent monitoring, verification and assessment:

Whatever the

eventual form of that governance,

our Panel believes an independent

monitoring, verification and assessment body at arm’s length or sepa-

rate from WHO is crucial to success of the international system for pan-

demic preparedness and response.

The WHO Secretariat must be able

to continue to play a supportive role to Member States and cannot be both

supporter and monitor. Given the inevitability of politics, Member States

cannot simply monitor themselves or each other.

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Finance

Gaps:

There is too little and inequitable financing for preparedness and

response.

For COVID-19, preparedness plans were inadequately funded

in almost all countries.

( 9 )

The COVID-19 response funding was slow,

wholly insufficient.

(10)

Solutions:

Financing for pandemic preparedness and response should be predictable

and sustainable, and draw from a multilateral facility into which all coun-

tries contribute based on an agreed ‘ability to pay’ formula, and are allo-

cated based on needs. A Convention should enshrine this as the accepted

approach, and any new funding facility should quickly strive to achieve this

as a goal.

Paramount is that sufficient funds are available for preparedness to ensure

every country in every income level meets the requirements to detect,

report and contain health threats.

Surge funds are immediately required for response, including to the country

reporting the threat.

Sustainable funds are needed to support the pandemic preparedness and

response global health governance structures.

Our Panel concurs with other Panels, such as the G20 High-Level

Independent Panel, that a minimum of $15 billion annually must be made

available.

(11)

This represents a tiny fraction of the trillions that COVID-19 is

predicted to cost globally.

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Rapid and consistent public health measures

Gaps:

When the IHR Emergency Committee met on 30 January 2020 and

advised the WHO Director-General to declare a Public Health Emergency

of International Concern, it reported that it was “still possible to interrupt

virus spread,” provided that countries put in place strong public health

measures.

(12)

Instead,

too many countries took a ‘wait and see’ approach,

leading to the ‘lost month’ of February 2020 in the global response.

(13)

As responses continued into 2021 and 2022, public health measures

were implemented in an ad hoc manner in many countries,

and within

some countries (particularly those with a federal system) measures have

not been uniform, and the degree of implementation subject to politics and

social divisions.

(14)

Solutions:

A recognition that

countries have an obligation to implement public

health measures as guided by WHO, both to contain the spread of the

pathogen, and to protect their populations.

Measures that are imple-

mented should be reported to WHO, to track and learn from measures

taken worldwide; to help inform WHO’s technical guidance; and to identify

countries that either require technical assistance, or recrimination for tak-

ing insufficient measures. Countries with federated systems will need to

ensure internal data systems are equipped to collate and report compre-

hensive national data.

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Sharing for the benefit of all

Gaps:

Clarity concerning the speed and type of epidemiological and genomic

information shared and the rules governing pathogen sharing are all at

issue.

At the critical initial alert phase of SARS-CoV-2, information sharing

was not only too slow, it was also incomplete.

(15)

The benefits of reliable and fair sharing are clear. Genetic sequencing

data for SARS-CoV-2 was initially shared rapidly through a public data-

bank,

enabling the creation of diagnostic tests that could be replicated in

labs around the world within days. Subsequently, sharing of sequences and

samples has enabled the development of vaccines, therapeutics and the

tracking of the virus and its mutations around the world.

Unfortunately, the

benefits have not been shared equally.

Solutions:

The Convention should provide a clear framework of how, when and

what epidemiological and genomic information, sequences and sam-

ples should be shared,

and how their benefits can be shared globally

and equitably.

Our Panel joins with the many who believe pandemic tools are global

public goods and must be financed, produced and distributed as such.

The current systems remain piecemeal and wholly inadequate, have resulted

in preventable illness and death and have prolonged this pandemic.

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WHO’s independence and authority

Gaps:

Analyses of WHO’s ability to respond to the early alert and ongoing

response to this pandemic describe the gaps in authority and sustain-

able, predictable funding.

(16)

WHO is hampered in ability to assess infor-

mation from other sources and share it immediately if deemed in the interest

of alerting to and containing an outbreak.

The WHO’s precarious financing, relying today for more than 80% of its

funding on earmarked voluntary, rather than flexible core contributions, fails

to support the demands placed on it by its own Member States.

Solutions:

A Convention should

confirm that an independent, authoritative WHO is

critical to pandemic preparedness and response. Our Panel supports

the numerous calls for unearmarked, assessed contributions to cover

two-thirds of WHO’s base budget.

Preventing virus spillovers at their source

Gaps:

Multiple analyses have concluded there are major gaps in efforts

to reduce the risks of zoonotic spillovers, through a One Health

approach.

(17)

The movement to address emerging challenges at the inter-

section of environmental, animal and human health is growing. However

there remains insufficient investment, little oversight, and a lack of coordi-

nation within countries.

Solutions:

More research and information are urgently required to bring clear, imple-

mentable solutions to address health threats at their origins, and enable

the development of a

One Health global strategy.

As more evidence is

gathered, One Health could be included in a specific protocol to a

Framework Convention.

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Accountability

and Compliance:

Mutual Assurance for

a More Secure World

Our Panel believes that given the enormous, worldwide, multiple damages

caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, all nations have an interest to partic-

ipate equally in a global system aimed at containing new outbreaks, and

ensuring all countries have the tools they need to minimize health, social

and economic damages should an outbreak spread.

We acknowledge the importance of state sovereignty and that govern-

ments know their own populations. However, we believe that when faced

with an existential threat such as a pathogen with pandemic potential, there

is a national interest in a shared sovereignty. Accountability ensures trust in

a system of mutual assurance for a more secure world.

We believe in a positively incentivized system, whereby compliance to

a Pandemic Framework Convention is rewarded, and where there are

disincentives for non-compliance.

Given the stakes involved, there must

be clear lines of accountability at every stage in the process from prepared-

ness through to alert and response.

It bears repeating that

an independent monitoring, verification and

assessment body

must have a clear role to regularly report on progress

and gaps, as well as more immediate assessment of countries that are

non-compliant.

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When faced with an existential threat such as

a pathogen with pandemic potential, there is

a national interest in a shared sovereignty.

Adherence to the principle of transparency is the bedrock of account-

ability.

It promotes trust, empowers the media and civil society, and should

be rewarded.

Countries could expect the right to assistance

at any point in the pro-

cess. Lower and middle-income countries in particular must be able to

count on financial and technical support to meet targets, and may set real-

istic, but still ambitious nationally defined goals.

Here, our Panel offers further concrete suggestions at each stage of pan-

demic preparedness and response.

Preparedness

Key are

agreed targets and indicators

for preparedness to be set by

WHO. These can be adapted from existing indicators, taking into account

the lessons from COVID-19. Amongst these are the need to prescribe a

whole-of-government, head of state-led approach; maintain a surveillance

and alert system of an agreed standard; link surveillance to primary care

and wider health systems.

The timetable to meet preparedness targets might be nationally

deter-

mined by

countries in different income brackets

considering a country’s

current capacities and financing for preparedness. This option may be sim-

ilar to that developed under the Paris Agreement on climate change. WHO

could provide technical assistance to plan a clear pathway to prepared-

ness. The independent monitoring and assessment body will be responsi-

ble for reviewing progress against targets.

Countries requiring finance for preparedness should be able to access

this through a finance facility, that operates on an inclusive, ‘ability-to-pay’

formula, and prioritises low and lower middle-income countries for support.

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Detection and alert

This is the crux point of the system. Success in rapid, transparent

reporting and action here can make the difference between containing

the threat, or cross-border and cross-continental spread.

All actors should consider

achievement and monitoring of real-time

surveillance systems as a priority,

and upgrade related capacities in the

shortest timeframe possible.

In this digital age, individuals or institutions closer to the ground may be

able to report health threats faster than the national capital.

Given the

access and speed of information dissemination, governments must accept

that information will be shared rapidly; and that individuals or lower-level

institutions acting in the wider interest of the public

should be rewarded,

and not punished for reporting.

Evidence of covering up health threats,

including by punitive measures against citizen reporting, would be consid-

ered a serious breach of norms.

Should a country fail to provide required information

in a defined period,

it would need to admit an independent, international investigative team

immediately, waiving visa requirements.

Reporting of health threats that have the potential to spread across bor-

ders

should be

publicly praised

by global and regional organizations, and

by Member States in official statements.

When a health threat is notified,

countries would have an automatic and

immediate right to:

prioritization of tools and countermeasures to contain

the outbreak;

technical assistance from WHO; and financial assistance

for low- and middle-income countries to contain the threat.

Countries should not be punished financially for early reporting.

Countries should be prepared to take immediate internal measures

to contain the outbreak,

including testing, contact tracing, isolation, and

travel measures, and should be publicly acknowledged for those efforts.

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Immediate and ongoing response

WHO would be authorized to take a rapid, pragmatic public-health focused

approach to all advice, based on the precautionary principle particularly

when faced with a high impact respiratory pathogen or a new pathogen with

unknown routes of transmission.

Transparency would underpin all guidance given and any assessments

made, including those of WHO and expert committees.

Countries would follow WHO guidance and implement recommended pub-

lic health measures to contain spread nationally and internationally. Actions

taken would be transparently reported to WHO.

In the event that international travel and trade measures are necessary to

contain or slow spread in the initial country reporting, funding could also

be made available to cover an agreed proportion of the losses to low- and

middle-income countries.

Incentives and compliance

As noted earlier, we believe in a positively incentivized system, whereby

compliance to a Pandemic Framework Convention is rewarded.

There are both moral and self-interest reasons why countries may be pre-

pared to comply with rules and requirements. The moral case is based on

the principle of solidarity accepting that we are all dependent on the actions

of each other to be safe.

Self-interest though is key. Each country needs the assurance that all oth-

ers will accept the same guidance especially when their own country has to

take difficult decisions.

The monitoring and assessment body we have described must be public in

its findings, and able to praise good behaviour as well as criticize countries

that do not comply with requirements.

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The reputational risk to a country for not complying is significant. Public

disclosure can be a positive incentive to comply.

It is difficult to identify sanctions or other penalties for noncompliance which

would not affect the people of the country concerned.

One suggestion

worth exploring is the use of Article IV of the IMF Constitution.

Under

this Article countries are assessed for their financial stability. Recently cli-

mate change effects and country action have been considered for possible

inclusion in the assessment. Given how deeply a pandemic can affect a

country’s financial stability the assessments might include a country’s pre-

paredness and ability for response based on the evaluation by the indepen-

dent monitoring and assessment body. The financial stability assessments

do have impact on the country’s reputation not least in its credit ratings.

We believe that treaties or conventions without accountability mechanisms

are unlikely to deliver, that incentives are the most effective compliance

enhancing mechanisms, but that there need to be disincentives.

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Conclusion

We appreciate that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is

working at a particularly challenging period in modern history.

The very foundations of the current order rest on successful inter-

national agreements, including the Constitution of the World Health

Organization and the United Nations Charter.

These were born of necessity and critically, a belief that we have the

ability to collaborate to ensure all people, everywhere, can enjoy safety

and wellbeing.

(18)

Now, we must all grasp this historic opportunity. Honour the millions of

people who have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Protect future generations from a similar, preventable disaster.

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About the Panel

The Panel for a Global Public Health Convention is an independent coalition

of global leaders committed to strengthening the world’s ability to prevent,

prepare, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks before they become

widespread pandemics.

We were founded in 2020 in response to the emergence of the COVID-19

pandemic, but the idea of global public health governance is not new. The

current global crisis lends urgency and legitimacy to the critical need for a

global mechanism to prevent, prepare for and respond to new infectious

disease outbreaks before they become pandemics.

We aim to bridge critical gaps in the global public health architecture and

policy framework to ensure cooperation, transparency and compliance that

enables the world to prevent pandemics. We advocate for a treaty to be

adopted at the highest levels of government: by heads of state. The world

needs a renewed sense of hope and trust led by heads of state who will

establish a treaty; a treaty that ensures timely cooperation, transparency,

accountability, and compliance with agreed upon rules among countries to

effectively prepare, prevent, and respond to public health outbreaks wher-

ever they may occur.

The Panel Chair is:

Dame Barbara Stocking

Former President, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge

Former CE Oxfam GB

Chair WHO Ebola Interim Assessment Panel 2015

The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action

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The Panel Members are:

Laura Chinchilla Miranda, M.P.P.

Vice-President, World Leadership Alliance –

Club de Madrid

Co-chair, Inter-American Dialogue

Former President of Costa Rica

Former Vice President, Minister of Justice and

Minister of Public Security, Costa Rica

John Dramani Mahama

Former President of Ghana

Former Vice-President, Minister of Communications and

Member of Parliament, Ghana

Jemilah Mahmood, M.D., FRCOG

Professor and Director, Sunway Centre

for Planetary Health

Former Under Secretary General, International

Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Society

Former Chief, UN World Humanitarian Summit

Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D.

University Professor and Founding O’Neill Chair

in Global Health Law, Georgetown University

Director, WHO Collaborating Center on National

and Global Health Law

Maha El Rabbat, Ph.D., M.Sc.

Professor of Public Health, Cairo University

Special Envoy of WHO Director-General on COVID-19

Member, AU commission on Africa’s COVID-19

response strategy

Former Minister of Health and Population, Egypt

Angel Gurría, M.A.

Former Secretary-General, Organization for

Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and

Minister of Finance and Public Credit

Jane Halton, P.S.M.,

Officer of the Order of Australia

Chair, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness

Innovations (CEPI)

Former President, World Health Assembly

Former Secretary of Department of Finance and

Secretary of Department of Health, Australia

Jorge Saavedra, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc.

(Non-voting Member)

Executive Director, AHF Global Public Health Institute

at the University of Miami

Former Director General, National Center for the

Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Mexico

Ricardo Leite, M.D.

Vice-President of the Social Democratic Party

Parliamentary Board, National Parliament of Portugal

President and Founder, UNITE Global Parliamentarians

Network to End Infectious Diseases

The Secretariat Members are:

José Szapocznik, Ph.D.

Head of Secretariat

Advisors to the Panel are:

Dr. Elil Renganathan

Special Advisor

Former WHO DG Representative for Evaluation

and Organizational Learning

Former Head of Evaluation Office, WHO

Anicca Liu, M.P.H., M.A.

Project Manager

Guilherme F. Faviero, J.D., M.P.H., M.Sc.

Lead Policy Analyst

Cecilia Rose-Oduyemi

Advisor

Ex Director, Governing Bodies, WHO

Jacob N. Batycki, M.P.H.

Sr. Research Associate

The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call

Convention, see: https://gphcpanel.org.

To learn more about the Panel for a Global Public Health

to Action

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References

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The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. COVID-19: Make it

the Last Pandemic. May 2021. Available here:

https://theindependentpanel.org/wp-con-

tent/uploads/2021/05/COVID-19-Make-it-the-Last-Pandemic_final.pdf.

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. From Worlds Apart to a World Prepared.

October 2021. Available here:

https://www.gpmb.org/annual-reports/overview/item/

from-worlds-apart-to-a-world-prepared

The Pan European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development. Drawing

Light from the Pandemic: A New Strategy for Health and Sustainable Development.

March 2021. Available here:

https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-policy/

european-programme-of-work/pan-european-commission-on-health-and-sustain-

able-development/publications/drawing-light-from-the-pandemic-a-new-strategy-for-

health-and-sustainable-development-2021

Gostin LO, Halabi SF, Klock KA. An International Agreement on Pandemic Prevention

and Preparedness. JAMA. 2021;326(13):1257–1258. Available here:

doi:10.1001/

jama.2021.16104.

And Singh S, McNab C, Olson RM, et al. How an outbreak became

a pandemic: a chronological analysis of crucial junctures and international obligations

in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet. 2021;398(10316):2109-2124.

doi:10.1016/ S0140-6736(21)01897-3.

WHO News Release. News release: World Health Assembly Agrees to Launch Process to

Develop Historic Global Accord On Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.

1 December 2021. Available at:

https://www.who.int/news/item/01-12-2021-world-health-

assembly-agrees-to-launch-process-to-develop-historic-global-accord-on-pandemic-

prevention-preparedness-and-response

While local practitioners and laboratory workers locally provided rapid internal alerts,

WHO was not alerted proactively. Instead, it received its first notices through external

queries including from media. Four days passed before WHO received official information.

Subsequently, 17 more days passed before human-to-human transmission was officially

confirmed, and widespread travel restrictions were imposed within the origin country.

(Reference: Singh et al. How an outbreak became a pandemic.

Lancet.)

Capacity and willingness to share surveillance information remains a major issue. The

most recent Global Health Security index (2021) reports that only three countries score

in the top tier in the category of early detection and reporting of epidemics of potential

international concern, and only one third of countries have made a public commitment to

share surveillance data. (Reference: Global Health Security Index 2021, see “Prevention:

Detection and Reporting.” Available here:

https://www.ghsindex.org/report-model/)

Report of the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel. World Health Organization.

July 2015. Available here:

https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/

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The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action

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( 9 )

The Global Health Security Index report in 2019 for example found that “Most countries

have not allocated funding from national budgets to fill identified preparedness gaps.”

Available here:

https://www.ghsindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-Glob-

al-Health-Security-Index.pdf

The IPPPR found that one month after declaring COVID-19 a PHEIC, the WHO’s emer-

gency fund and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund — had allocated a total of just

$23.9 million for COVID-19. Three months later, the UN’s $6.71 billion Global Humanitarian

Response Plan was just 5% financed. The World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Fund Cash

Window had been emptied in 2019, and its 2nd window for pandemic insurance did not

trigger for three months. By the time the full $196 million insurance payout was released

in late-April 2020, it had to be shared among 64 countries, 59 of which were already man-

aging COVID-19 outbreaks. The Independent Panel goes on to report that “Six months

on from the WHO’s PHEIC declaration, more than $70 billion had been committed to low-

and middle-income countries by multilateral agencies, and $50 billion had been disbursed

from these agencies to their partners. However, more than 90% of this finance was

debt, meaning richer middle-income countries with greater borrowing capacity tended

to receive more finance from multilateral agencies than poorer countries.” (Reference:

IPPPR background paper 14. Financing Pandemic Preparedness and Response. May

2021. Available here:

https://theindependentpanel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/

Background-Paper-14-Financing-Pandemic-Preparedness-and-Response.pdf)

The G20 High Level Independent Panel. Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic

Preparedness and Response. July 2021. Available here:

https://pandemic-financing.org/

World Health Organization. Statement on the second meeting of the International Health

Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus

(2019-nCoV). Available here:

https://www.who.int/news/item/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-second-meeting-of-the-

international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-

of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)

The IPPPR. COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic. May 2021.

Godlee F. Covid 19: Widening divisions will take time to heal

BMJ

2021; 372 :n96

doi:10.1136/bmj.n96. Available here: doi:

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n96

Associated Press. News article: China delayed releasing coronavirus info, frustrating

WHO. June 6, 2020. Available here:

https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-health-

ap-top-news-virus-outbreak-public-health-3c061794970661042b18d5aeaaed9fae

The IPPPR. COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic. May 2021.

Otu, A., Effa, E., Meseko, C. et al. Africa needs to prioritize One Health approaches that

focus on the environment, animal health and human health.

Nat Med

27, 943–946 (2021).

Available here:

https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41591-021-01375-w

Gostin LO, COVID Pushed Global Health Institutions to Their Limits, Scientific

American, February 2022. Available here:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/

covid-pushed-global-health-institutions-to-their-limits/

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The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action

EPI, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 360: Henvendelse af 12/4-2022 fra Global Public Health Convention om deres publikation: The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action

The Pandemic Convention We Need Now: A Call to Action