The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, assured that “at some point this year” it might be said that Covid-19 has ended as a public health emergency of international concern and as a pandemic.
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At the award ceremony for the “Thomas Francis Jr. Medal in Global Public Health”, the entity’s representative stressed that last Saturday marked the three years since the declaration of the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic.
“At that time, there were fewer than 100 reported cases outside of China and no reported deaths. Three years later, there are almost seven million registered deaths, but we know that the real number of deaths is much higher, ”he said.
Had a very productive meeting with @UN_PGA Csaba Kőrösi, on preparations for the upcoming #HER High Level meetings on health:
-pandemic preparedness
-universal health coverage
-tuberculosis
I thanked him for his commitment to health and close collaboration with @WHO. Together! pic.twitter.com/9HVaiFw3hr— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros)
March 15, 2023
Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in the current context, the world is in a much better position compared to other moments of the pandemic.
“It’s very nice to see that, for the first time, the weekly number of reported deaths is now lower than when we first used the word ‘pandemic’ three years ago. The improvement is significant,” he acknowledged.
In this regard, the health minister alluded to the need to learn from the lessons left by the pandemic, to avoid repeating the cycle of panic and negligence that has characterized the global response to pandemics and epidemics for decades.
“The pandemic is a vivid demonstration that an advanced health care system is not the same as a strong public health system. Some countries with the most sophisticated health care have been overwhelmed by Covid-19,” he said.
Likewise, the director general of the WHO said that the importance of public health, science and cooperation are lessons that the period of the Covid-19 pandemic has taught.
“That’s what the pandemic agreement that countries are now negotiating is all regarding: an agreement between nations to work cooperatively with each other, not in competition, to prepare for and respond to epidemics and pandemics,” he insisted.
Last Monday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) studied the preliminary draft of a new international health agreement on the prevention, preparation and response to pandemics.
The instrument is intended to be submitted for approval by WHO Member States in 2024.
