Joe Biden unveils new partnership with 50 countries to stifle future pandemics
- US officials will offer support, primarily in Asia and Africa, to help identify and respond to diseases like Covid-19, to prevent future outbreaks
- The move comes amid struggles to get a pandemic treaty signed by all 194 WHO members, 4 years after the start of the coronavirus pandemic
US President Joe Biden’s administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the Covid-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020.
US government officials will offer support in the countries, most of them located in Africa and Asia, to develop better testing, surveillance, communication and preparedness for such outbreaks in those countries.
The strategy will help “prevent, detect and effectively respond to biological threats wherever they emerge,” Biden said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Global Health Security Strategy, the president said, aims to protect people worldwide and “will make the United States stronger, safer, and healthier than ever before at this critical moment”.
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World Health Organization announces Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency
The announcement about the strategy comes as countries have struggled to meet a worldwide accord on responses to future pandemics. Four years after the coronavirus pandemic, the prospects of a pandemic treaty signed by all 194 of the World Health Organization’s members are flailing.
