President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria alongside other World leaders has promised to strengthen international cooperation and all investments needed to prevent a reoccurrence of the devastating health and socio-economic impact caused by COVID-19.
The Assembly also agreed that a resilient and strong health care system is important to keep the world prepared for future pandemics, and get back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The leaders reached the resolve while speaking at UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) meeting at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78) in New York, Wednesday.
Health Ministers of various countries agreed to put health for all on the highest agenda and apply lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their separate remarks, they unanimously promised to further mobilize political momentum, including through the integration of a multisectoral approach towards pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, given the multifaceted consequences of pandemics.
The session has in attendance World leaders, Health Ministers of various countries, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ms. Helen Clark, Former Co-Chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response; Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director, World Bank.
Nigeria’s coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate; Assistant Director General at the World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic & Epidemic Intelligence, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu; MWIA President, Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi (Nigeria) were also in attendance.
President of the 78th session of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis in his remarks said: “We cannot blindly assume that this is the last pandemic; there will be others, just as there have been successive ones in the past.
“We owe it to ourselves – and importantly to future generations for whom we hold this planet in trust – to make sure that we are ready for what is to come.
“We also owe it to those most vulnerable in our communities, who regrettably unfairly bore the heaviest brunt of COVID-19. We must approach everything we do in that spirit.
“This meeting and the political declaration to be approved by Member States are important steps in that regard.
“The Declaration before you should go a long way to demonstrate continued commitment by the international community to do better in the face of other future pandemics – that is, better prevention, preparedness, and response.”
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the political declaration approved called for further strengthening of the global health emergency architecture to better protect the world from a repeat of COVID-19.
He said: “I welcome this commitment by world leaders to provide the political support and direction needed so that WHO, governments and all involved can protect people’s health and take concrete steps towards investing in local capacities, ensuring equity and supporting the global emergency health architecture that the world needs.”
