To change the course of the聽covid-19 pandemic, the international community must demonstrate a true commitment to urgent action and equity across聽all fronts of health.
To succeed, it will mean achieving several essential objectives. It will mean sharing聽what is needed to save聽lives now,聽from vaccines, diagnostics and treatments for聽the most vulnerable to PPE聽for聽health workers.
In particular, it will mean reaching the target of vaccinating 70 per cent of people in all countries by the middle of 2022, through swapping doses with countries in need, dose sharing and scaling up production through technology transfer and waiving intellectual property provisions on vaccine patents.
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Hand in hand with vaccine equity, countries will need to continue using tailored public health and social measures, including mask wearing, physical distancing,聽 avoiding crowded places, practising hand and respiratory hygiene, contact tracing and quarantine.
It will require enhanced surveillance, testing, sequencing and reporting of variants by聽all聽countries, without fear of聽punitive measures (such as聽blanket travel bans).
It will require well-managed clinical pathways from primary to intensive care, ensuring the right patient gets the right care at the right time, and that the health workforce is well supported and聽protected while doing their life-saving work. It will require intensified and targeted risk communication, community engagement, empowerment and聽support, addressing public concerns and building trust.
Beyond 2022, it will mean working together to build a binding global accord to deliver the governance, financing, systems and tools to prevent and聽respond to pandemics and聽protect future generations.
Above all, it will mean ensuring聽health for all by investing in universal health coverage, with primary healthcare as its foundation.
Interview by Helen Thomson
