Tomorrow, the 194 member states of the World Health Organization will hold a video conference in an effort to coordinate efforts to tackle the "Covid-19" epidemic, but that the meeting will take place in light of a direct confrontation between Washington and Beijing that threatens to undermine the talks.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization is launching a platform to share data and intellectual property rights licenses, to ensure access to the largest number of medical and technological discoveries made in the fight against HIV.
Every year, ministers and senior officials from WHO countries come to Geneva for a week, to participate in the World Health Assembly, the agency of the United Nations.
It is imperative that the outbreak of the new Corona virus, this year, be held by videoconference for only two days, on May 18 and 19, with the talks limited to the global epidemic, in the hope of organizing a meeting later in the year in Geneva.
Despite the escalation of tension between Washington and Beijing, countries hope to reach consensus, next week, on a draft resolution proposed by the European Union.
"The negotiation of the decision was difficult, and very controversial," said the director of international affairs at the Federal Office of Public Health, Swiss ambassador Nora Kronig.
She explained that "one of the challenges is that it is almost impossible to negotiate by default. This complicates building consensus within small groups."
But after consultations lasting several days, the diplomats eventually agreed on a text calling for "access to all necessary products to address the pandemic quickly and fairly throughout the world."
A European diplomatic source said that "an unofficial agreement was adopted to adopt the decision unanimously, this will be an important result, because the World Health Organization will be the first global forum to meet unanimously on a text", stressing that the decision addresses even "difficult" issues, including the origin of the virus , And the much-sought-after reform of the United States.
The draft resolution, in particular, requests the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tidros Adhanum Gebriusos, to initiate "as quickly as possible an evaluation process", to review the international health response, and the measures taken and the "timeline" of the organization.
It also calls for help in "identifying the animal origin of the virus and determining its transmission to humans."
Washington, which accuses Beijing of hiding the scale of the epidemic and its danger when it begins to spread, is testing a strength with the World Health Organization, which President Donald Trump accuses of "mistakes" in managing the crisis by adopting the Chinese position.
Gayle Krikorian, campaign officer for access to medicines, welcomed the "effort" made by countries to organize a collective response, stressing that the decision "calls for access to global access, as soon as possible, and in a fair manner, to Health Articles that allow the fight against the virus ».
Finally, the United States accused China of seeking to infiltrate American research on a vaccine, amid a raging American-European competition to reach a vaccine, and Trump threatened to "cut all ties" with Beijing.
The US mission to the United Nations rejected the call made by China to the member states of the United Nations to fulfill its financial obligations to the international organization, saying it was an attempt by Beijing to "distract" from "mismanagement" during the "Covid-19" epidemic.
In a statement, the day before yesterday, China called on member states of the United Nations to "fully fulfill their financial obligations" of the organization.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization will launch a platform to share data and intellectual property rights licenses, to ensure access to the largest number of medical and technological discoveries made, in the framework of the fight against the emerging corona virus. The Director-General of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Gabrios, called with the President of Costa Rica Carlos Alvarado and Chile Sebastian Benera, the largest number of countries and parties active in the field of research, to contribute "voluntarily" to the establishment of this participatory platform. The aim of this, they said, is to establish a "database of medical technology, in terms of vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and any other tool" to combat "Covid-19", which has killed more than 300,000 people since its appearance in China at the end of 2019.
In related terms, the United States recorded 1,680 deaths from the emerging coronavirus during the past 24 hours, bringing its total deaths to 87,493, according to the Johns Hopkins University census. The University, which is based in Baltimore, indicated that the number of injuries in the country amounts to one million and 442 thousand and 924 injuries.
Washington accuses China of "distracting itself from covering up" the "Corona crisis".
1680
Death of Corona virus within 24 hours in the United States.