WHO establishes negotiating body to prepare for future pandemics

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established an Inter-governmental Negotiating Body (INB) that will help prepare countries for any pandemic in the future.

Speaking during Thursday’s COVID-19 update, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, M.P, said the initiative will be carried out by a representative from each of the six WHO regions.

Guyana, a country of the Americas, was tasked with coordinating a meeting with other similar countries to select a representative of the secretariat.During that meeting, Brazil was nominated.

“That body is going to continue to have a series of meetings as we develop and craft a new instrument to make us better prepared for future pandemics, so Guyana will be an integral part of those discussions,” he said.

Further, with the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world, the minister said “all the countries of the world should participate in negotiating a new instrument dealing with pandemic preparedness.”

The first meeting of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Body commenced on Thursday with Dr. Anthony speaking on behalf of countries in the Americas.