Monday 15th November 2021
Networks, structures, trust
Merkel is aiming for a global pandemic treaty
In view of the corona crisis, Chancellor Merkel is calling for a globally binding pandemic contract. “Pandemics know no national borders” and must be dealt with together. It depends on better networking, efficient structures and trust between the countries, said Merkel.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a globally binding pandemic agreement so that in the future one can react faster and better to global health crises. At the virtual evidence summit of the World Health Organization (WHO), she said that you can only fight pandemics such as the current corona crisis together.
“The current pandemic with its catastrophic health and economic consequences should be a lesson to us. We should build networks, structures and trust – that is, create the conditions for us and future generations to be able to react faster and better to health threats,” she said. “We are well advised if we specifically set down binding measures for better prevention, early detection and reaction in a pandemic contract or another legal instrument.”
From their point of view, there are three basic points. Firstly, one should ensure more cooperation and networking in science, politics and between science and politics. Second, efficient and functioning structures are necessary, including reliable funding from the World Health Organization. Because the WHO, as the coordinating body in the global health architecture, has a central role to play. In addition, the mandates of all organizations and actors in global health should be clearly coordinated, said Merkel.
As a third point, Merkel demanded that the countries should strengthen mutual trust. Because this is “indispensable” for a successful cooperation. “Pandemics do not know national borders, common challenges like these can only be overcome, despite all national efforts, if we also act together,” said Merkel. Instead of acting alone, together you would have a much better chance of successfully confronting the horror of pandemics.
Furthermore, the digitization of the health system must be improved in order to generate reliable data on the infection process, said Merkel. Artificial intelligence can accelerate data analysis because it enables previously unknown relationships to be seen in large amounts of data. The federal government recently set up a WHO center for data analysis for pandemic preparation in Berlin.