Unlock Editorial Digest for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Sharp disparities between rich and poor countries are threatening progress on a key pandemic treaty, with officials warning that a planned May deadline to deliver a global deal could be missed.
“[The] The big question now is whether we can reach an agreement in May and what the consequences will be if it fails,” said a Western diplomat with knowledge of the process. Member states received a new draft text from the World Health Organization late on Friday, The final round of negotiations is scheduled for the end of March.
Officials said sharing pathogen genome data and funding health systems during emergencies are some of the issues where negotiators are most divided.
“The new text is kind of a couple of steps forward and a couple of steps back,” the diplomat added. “It doesn't bring us closer to consensus.”
Missing the May deadline would increase the political risk of the treaty unraveling. “Any delay is not going to make it easier as the pressure for the election increases,” another Western diplomat said, referring to votes in the United States and other countries. The World Health Organization's annual general meeting will be held on May 27. Meeting in Geneva to decide on the final text, the proposed final step before signing the global deal.
The need for better preparedness for pandemics is underlined by a broad demographic study that shows the death toll during the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak hit nearly 16 million, temporarily reversing 70 years of global mortality declines the trend of.
The paper published in The Lancet on Monday said that while the global age-standardized mortality rate fell by 62.8% between 1950 and 2019, it rose by an estimated 5.1% in 2020-21.
Child mortality continued to fall during the peak of the pandemic, although at a slower rate than before, reflecting the much lower vulnerability of young people to Covid-19.
The paper states: “The increase in mortality among people aged 25 and over is unprecedented in the past 70 years.”
The study estimated excess mortality from Covid-19 using census, survey and other data from 204 countries and territories.
U.S. Republican lawmakers criticized the treaty, saying it would undermine U.S. sovereignty, while former U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Washington to withdraw from the World Health Organization altogether.
“ghost [of Trump’s re-election] “It's imminent, which is very helpful to focus,” another diplomat said, adding that if the May deadline wasn't met, “there's a good chance it will be shelved.”
One bone of contention centers on Article 12, which would create a genome repository. Poorer countries are pushing for so-called pathogen access and benefit-sharing systems (Pabs) to be included in the World Health Organization, but richer countries say it won't work, and one European diplomat said based on the article's current text, it won't. There will be “any agreement” wording. Other issues include concerns about pandemic financing.
A person familiar with the discussions said the final talks were scheduled for the second half of March, but the health agency may decide to add another meeting at the end of April.
“The question of timing is also whether to reach an agreement as soon as possible. [polish] The text of the final agreement,” they added. “It is in quite bad shape from a legal and technical perspective. “
Jamie Love, international director of health NGO Knowledge Ecology, said that despite the attention on Article 12, countries were “closer to an agreement than some people think”.
Wealthy countries, including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and some EU countries, have blocked fair measures on intellectual property and technology transfers in other parts of the agreement, he said. field”.
“to some extent [article] Limiting access to knowledge about pathogens can be blamed on high-income countries that block other equitable provisions,” he said.
Ellen 't Hoen, of the Drug Law and Policy Research Group, said progress had been made in areas such as access to antiviral drugs and vaccines, a serious issue during the pandemic, but said the current text ” All parties are required to encourage or incentivize” knowledge sharing. . . It does not include any authority to guarantee that if encouragement or incentives do not work it will happen. “
Monday marks the fourth anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the Covid-19 outbreak a “pandemic.”
#Deadline #pandemic #treaty #deal #risk #officials #warn
