- Prelims: Current events of national importance, Government policies, Covid-19, pandemic treaty).
- Mains GS Paper II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementations, Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States.
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- An estimated 18 million people may have died from COVID-19, according various credible estimates, a scale of loss not seen since the Second World War.
- Over 120 million people are pushed into extreme poverty, and a massive global recession.
- Now, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Pandemic:
- According to the WHO, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations.
Epidemic:
- An epidemic is a large outbreak, one that spreads among a population or region.
- It is less severe than pandemic due to a limited area of spread.
Covid-19
- The novel coronavirus outbreak in 2019-2020 with the nickname COVID-19 is a new strain of viruses which can cause fever, cough, breathing difficulties, pneumonia and even death in humans.
- WHO declared COVID-19 infections as a public health emergency of international concern and later called it a pandemic.
- Coronavirus consists of an RNA genome and is one of the largest in the RNA family.
- Coronaviruses are enveloped and contain single-stranded positive-sense RNA.
Health inequity created by Covid-19:
- Socioeconomic consequences of Covid-19: They are irreversible in low and low middle-income countries, while high-income economies are recovering.
- Monopolies held by pharma majors: such as Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as fewer of their vaccines reached people in low-income countries.
- Vaccination: Only 3% of people in low-income countries had been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 18% in high-income countries.
- Precautions: Six to eight weeks after the PHEIC declaration, countries, except for Asia, did not take the requisite precautions.
- Covid Vaccine and treatment: When world leaders pledged $07 billion in a digital fundraiser for developing a coronavirus vaccine and treatments, the United States did not send any representative.
India’s role:
- Vaccine diplomacy: India produces nearly 60% of the world’s vaccines and is said to account for 60%-80% of the United Nations’ annual vaccine procurement.
- Global over domestic: India continued the shipment of vaccines and other diagnostics even when it was experiencing a vaccine shortage for domestic use.
- Global cooperation: India shipped 35 lakh doses of ‘Made-in-India’ COVID-19 vaccines to 72 countries.
What is the pandemic treaty?
- The World health organization established an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate the contents of the pandemic treaty in compliance with Article 19 of the WHO Constitution.
- The pandemic treaty is expected to cover aspects like:
- Data sharing and genome sequencing of emerging viruses
- Equitable distribution of vaccines and drugs
- Related research throughout the world.
Importance of Global Pandemic Treaty:
- Build coherence and avoid fragmentation: A treaty under the umbrella of WHO would build coherence and avoid fragmentation.
- Early warning system: It will formally commit governments and parliaments to implement an early warning system and a properly funded rapid response mechanism.
- Common metrics for health investment: It will mobilize nation states to agree on a set of common metrics that are related to health investments and a return on those investments.
- These investments should aim to reduce the public-private sector gap
Way Forward.
- Global pandemic treaty: Finally, a global pandemic treaty will not only reduce socioeconomic inequalities across nation states but also enhance a global pandemic preparedness for future health emergencies.
- India must take the lead in this.
- Development and distribution of vaccines: Addressing the issues associated with the development and distribution of vaccines will augment the effort to efficiently get vaccines to hundreds of millions in the shortest period of time.
- Framework for allocation of tools: It is important to ensure fair, affordable, and equitable access to all tools for combating pandemics and, therefore, the need to build a framework for allocation of tools.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
- Critically examine the role of WHO in providing global health security during the COVID-19 Pandemic.(UPSC 2020)
(200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)