Global Leaders Unite, Call for International Pandemic Treaty

The international community should work together "towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response" to build a more robust global health architecture that will protect future generations, world leaders said in a published commentary.

"There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone," the leaders wrote. "The question is not if, but when. Together, we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The Covid-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe."

Expanding on their points, the leaders -who include Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, J. V. Bainimarama, prime minister of Fiji, Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania, and Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom - said: "The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international cooperation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research, and local, regional, and global production and distribution of medical and public health countermeasures, such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, and personal protective equipment."