The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) wrapped up last week without members coming to a final agreement on the pandemic treaty or amendments to the international health regulations (IHR).
However, there were significant developments, including:
- Approval by member states of a large budget increase for the WHO.
- The launch of new fundraising initiatives.
- Warnings about a future pandemic or deadly new “Disease X.”
- A new collaboration between the WHO and the Rockefeller Foundation to promote new vaccines.
The new developments were in addition to those The Defender reported on last week, including the release of a new bureau’s text of the draft pandemic treaty and new proposals to limit free speech and personal liberties.
More pandemics coming — but they aren’t the only threat, WHO says
Addressing the WHA on May 22, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said his recent declaration to end the COVID-19 as a global health emergency is “not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat.”
Tedros told WHA member states:
“The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains. And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains … When the next pandemic comes knocking — and it will — we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably.”
Future pandemics aren’t the only threat humanity faces or that the WHO must be ready to respond to, Tedros said.
“Pandemics are far from the only threat we face,” he said. “In a world of overlapping and converging crises, an effective architecture for health emergency preparedness and response must address emergencies of all kinds.”
This statement comes as the U.N. General Assembly is discussing its Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention and Response initiative, which will empower the U.N. secretary-general to quickly respond to “global shocks” related to pandemics, the climate, biological warfare, cyberspace or supply chain disruptions, an “event in outer space” or an “unforeseen black swan event.”
Tedros used this threat to urge the WHO member states to successfully complete negotiations regarding the pandemic treaty and IHR amendments, “so the world will never again have to face the devastation of a pandemic like COVID-19.”
“We cannot kick this can down the road,” he said. “If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?”
Tedros does not appear to use the phrase by name when addressing the WHA, but several press reports referenced “Disease X” — the WHO’s placeholder name for a disease that is currently unknown or not in existence, with the potential to be devastating for humanity.
“Disease X,” included on the WHO’s list of “priority diseases” likely to cause the next pandemic, is not a new concept — it was first named in 2018, by Dr. Richard Hatchett of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness. According to the New York Post, Hatchett said, “This isn’t the stuff of science fiction. This is a scenario we have to prepare for. This is Disease X.”
The WHA approved a 20% budget increase for the WHO, alongside the launch of a new “replenishment” initiative to raise more funds for the agency.
According to Dr. David Bell, a public health physician and biotech consultant and former director of Global Health Technologies at Intellectual Ventures Global Good Fund, the approval of more funds “illustrates that global health as a discipline has completely lost the plot and been taken over by people interested in making profit.”
On May 22, WHO member states agreed to a $6.83 billion budget for the WHO in 2024-2025, including “a historical 20% increase of assessed contributions (or membership fees).” Member states will contribute $1.15 billion via their membership fees, another $5.69 billion will come from “voluntary contributions” from “member states and other contributors.”
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