‘A key conference paper, already filed ahead of the assembly, and supported by 122 countries, including the members of the European Union and the African Group, the UK, Russia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, calls for a systemic review of the world’s response to Covid-19. “Initiate, at the earliest appropriate moment, and in consultation with member states, a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation ... to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to Covid-19.”
‘The draft motion does not mention China or Wuhan (the city where the virus was first detected) by name. But it urges the global health community to: “... identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population, including the possible role of intermediate hosts, including through efforts such as scientific and collaborative field missions.”
And the paper argues the response to the pandemic must be global. The motion: “… calls for the universal, timely and equitable access to and fair distribution of all quality, safe, efficacious and affordable essential health technologies and products including their components and precursors required in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic as a global priority.”
Read here (The Guardian, May 18, 2020)
Download the 73rd WHA, Agenda Item 3, ‘Covid-19 response’ draft resolution here
