Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, and Rt Hon. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, today briefed Member States at the United Nations General Assembly on measures to respond to COVID-19 and prevent future pandemics. HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Rt Hon. Helen Clark were Co-Chairs of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response which reported to the World Health Assembly in May 2021 on lessons learnt from the international response to COVID-19.
Based on a close analysis of steps taken and not taken in response to COVID-19, the Panel made a sweeping set of recommendations designed to ensure that no future disease outbreak is allowed to become a devastating pandemic. Recommended actions included that the United Nations General Assembly should adopt a political declaration setting out a road map to strengthen the international system, and that a Global Heath Threats Council be established at Head of State and Government level, with its membership endorsed by the General Assembly. The Panel also called for steps to strengthen and empower WHO, and backed proposals for a new pandemic framework convention.
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