INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Covid-19 pandemic is &most certainly not over&, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO)
warned on Sunday (May 22) during the opening session of the U.N agency&s annual assembly.More than 100 world health ministers meet in Geneva
this week for the WHO&s first in-person World Health Assembly in three years.As the delegates meet, COVID-19 infections were still rising
and and efforts to vaccinate the world remained incomplete, Tedros told the assembly.It&s not over anywhere until it&s over everywhere
Reported cases are increasing in almost 70 countries in all regions & and this in a world in which testing rates have plummeted,& he said.As
agency seeks to define its future role in global health policy, the agenda is the most packed in the WHO&s 75-year history and is seen as an
historic opportunity to move on from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to 15 million deaths, and prepare for the next global outbreak.The
WHO&s Europe region passed a resolution against Russia this month and asked Tedros to prepare a report on Ukraine&s health emergency.Members
are also preparing a resolution to be submitted to the assembly, although diplomats say it will stop short of suspending Russia&s voting
rights, as some initially sought.The WHO&s Ethiopian Director-General Tedros is all but certain to be re-elected via a secret ballot on
Tuesday (May 24), having overcome criticism from his own government and a crisis last year following sexual abuse reports against WHO staff
in Congo.The biggest outcome from the assembly itself is expected to be a funding deal seen as necessary to ensure WHO&s survival, with an
agreement set to be approved by members which would help cut its reliance on donations with strings attached.WHO is currently funded mostly
by voluntary contributions from governments and private donors, a set-up that the U.N
agency and independent panels of experts have said is unsustainable as the organisation faces new challenges, including higher risks of
pandemics as well as other health issues from breastfeeding to Ebola.A deal that would raise mandatory fees for member states and reduce its
reliance on donations & as long as WHO makes much-needed changes to improve efficiency and transparency & is likely to be approved.The post
Covid-19 pandemic ‘most certainly not over&, warns WHO chief first appeared on Ariana News.
