Former President John Mahama has called for the creation of a new international system to salvage countries deserted in the face of major health threats.
Mr John Mahama said this new system must be anchored in solidarity, transparency, accountability and equity to ensure countries are able to detect and respond to threats before they become pandemics.
According to the former President, this is imperative as about 80 per cent of individuals in African countries are yet to obtain the Covid-19 vaccine a year after Ghana received its first batch of vaccines through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX).
In a statement, he stated: “When Ghana became the first country in Africa to receive Covid-19 vaccine doses through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative to equitably distribute COVID vaccines, I had a glimmer of hope; that solidarity would prevail to protect people everywhere from the virus.
“Fast forward to today and a third of the world remains completely unvaccinated, including 80% of people in Africa. Moreover, lifesaving treatments are only available in a handful of countries.”
To safeguard the future of all people, the Panel for a Global Public Health Convention has proposed a new Pandemic Treaty or Convention.
The Treaty will among other things address such gaps and dramatically strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response systems, according to Mr Mahama.
Mr Mahama noted that WHO’s leadership in setting international standards in preparedness and response and supporting countries achieve targets has been laudable.
However, he indicated that there is the need for an independent body that would “add an additional layer of accountability to our international system by having the mandate to call on and call out countries based on performance of pandemic preparedness, detection and response..
“We must also look through an equitable and realistic lens when we set targets and monitor for performance, as levels of pandemic preparedness will vary by country.”
Buttressing on pandemic preparedness, the former President cited the Ebola outbreak that saw countries strengthen their capacity to contain outbreaks through enhanced laboratory capacity, disease surveillance and crossborder coordination.
He insisted that a new Pandemic Treaty is vital because global health security is only as strong as its weakest link.
The effects of such a treaty include countries accessing predictable and sustainable funding without incurring catastrophic debt and encouraging more research and enhancing coordination among all stakeholders.
In conclusion, Mr Mahama noted that “without clear accountability at each stage, calls for solidarity may yet again fail the next time an outbreak with pandemic potential emerges. We have the tools and solutions to prevent this – let’s put them to use through a new, equitable Pandemic Treaty.”