Meaningful investment might be essential for fixing power imbalances in science and innovation. Meaningful investment might be essential for fixing power imbalances in science and innovation.
For the Pandemic Accord to be effective, member states must urgently focus negotiations to define its scope, including its definition of “pandemic,” and ensure the definition avoids the pitfalls of past mistakes, argue Noor Shakfeh, Fifa Rahman, and Katri Bertram
Member states of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Body (INB)1 have roughly nine months left before they need to present a draft outcome to the World Health Assembly in May 2024. While their negotiations to date have understandably focused on provisions related to access and benefit-sharing, and distribution of countermeasures, the implementation of these as well as all other provisions will ultimately depend on whether an outbreak meets member states’ negotiated definition of “pandemic.”
At a joint meeting in July 2023 with the working group to amend the International Health Regulations (WGIHR),2 member states met to discuss the scope of the accord, including the definition of a “pandemic.” Though formal negot
Health experts warn of diagnostics apartheid in the global distribution of tests for Covid-19 and Mpox iol.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iol.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Most Africans could not get a COVID-19 test unless they were hospitalised or could afford to pay a private laboratory for a pricey test – yet rapid tests were