The World Health Organization (WHO) has formally adopted the first pandemic agreement.
The landmark decision comes after more than three years of intense negotiations involving 124 governments in response to the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and driven by the goal of making the world safer from future pandemics.
A key element in the agreement concerns “a more equitable and better prepared world,” particularly with regard to supporting developing countries in sourcing and distributing medical supplies, especially oxygen.
Each country, collaborating with the WHO, will develop and maintain national health information systems, and monitor and periodically assess its preparedness capacities.
A global supply chain and logistics network will be established to boost response times, remove barriers and facilitate stockpiling.
The agreement calls for accelerating research and development – one of the first articles to be unanimously agreed by member states – transfer of technologies, and better international and regional collaboration.
Professor Alice Norton, Principal Investigator at the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute and Head of the PSI Policy and Practice Research Group, said that while we have come a long way since the start of the pandemic in some areas, such as vaccines and data sharing, in others – like the political will to work together and invest in biosecurity the same way we invest in defence – progress has stalled.
“Ultimately the success of this pandemic agreement will depend on national investment, and across all countries this will require renewed political will beyond the health ministries,” she said.
Separately, countries and leading bodies pledged an extra $170m to the WHO to tackle mounting global health challenges.
Novo Nordisk Foundation led the round with $57m, followed by Switzerland ($40m). There were other leading contributions from Sweden ($13.5m), Children’s Investment Fund Foundation ($13m) and Laerdal Global Health ($12.5m).
UK medical oxygen understandably soared during the pandemic years, rising to 472 and 474 tonnes per day (tpd) in 2020 and 2021 respectively, but has since stabilised to 248 tpd in 2024, according to gasworld Intelligence.
Rising demand for high-flow and portable oxygen therapy in the home is adding pressure to healthcare providers and increasing safety risks, according to UK-based Baywater Healthcare’s Claire Hole, speaking at the recent BCGA Conference.
Leith Greenslade, Coordinator at the Every Breath Counts Coalition, discussed the learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic in a gasworld webinar earlier in the year.
