Even though progress has been made with revisions to the WHO's International Health Regulations, more global cooperation is needed to prevent the same devastation that COVID-19 caused, say these professors.The risk of another pandemic like COVID-19 - the worst in a century - is increasing.
Global responses to health hazards that cross borders date back to an international sanitary conference in 1851 which focused on measures to limit the spread of cholera. Since then, several initiatives have aimed to improve global health security, including the formation of the WHO itself in 1946. Such measures protected both high-income islands as well as low and middle-income countries in continental Asia .
All WHO member states now have 18 months to consider the proposed revisions. They may enter reservations to parts they disagree with, even though this may weaken the coherence of the proposed amendments. Due to these challenges, the international community has not yet agreed on a text for a pandemic agreement. The WHO has announced the next steps for further negotiations, which are already years past their start date.