World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has praised the latest book by billionaire Bill Gates, declaring full agreement with the software tycoon’s insistence that “we must act on Covid-19’s lessons and innovate so that we can deliver swift, equitable health solutions to prevent the next pandemic.”
The public health official tweeted a photo of himself with the book, tagging the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder’s public health policy-making vehicle.
Althoug Gates is not a certified medical expert, he has effectively impacted global health policy as the largest private contributor to WHO, behind only the US government in terms of funding.
Gates scolded rich countries for taking less action to flood poorer nations with vaccines than he “expected” – and repeatedly demanded – over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. He called for developed nations to unite to implement systems that would prevent another pandemic, arguing that “your survival [with Covid-19] depended partly on your income, your race, the neighborhood you live in”.
The billionaire philanthropist’s ideas seems congruent with WHO’s plans for a global pandemic treaty, currently being negotiated in order to “set out the objectives and fundamental principles in order to structure the necessary collective action to fight pandemics.”
Heavy on surveillance, vaccinations, and “restoring trust in the international health system,” the agreement would be legally binding under international law, superseding the regulations of individual countries and ensuring all nations act as one in response to future outbreaks.
First devised by European Council President Charles Michel in November 2020, the agreement was outlined in a call for an “international treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness” issued in March 2021 by a group of 25 heads of government and NGOs. Their publication declared that no single government, or even public-private partnership like the WHO, could sufficiently address the problems that would come with future pandemics, and called for a treaty “rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization” and backed by existing “International Health Regulations.” It was swiftly backed by the G7 and World Health Assembly.
The body plans to confirm its pandemic agreement at the 2024 World Health Assembly.