Three years ago, in December, the Covid-19 virus was detected for the first time. In this regard, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has called on all countries to join forces so that the world is able to meet the health challenges of the future.
In a message to Le Monde, Guterres recalled that since his first report in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019, his costs have reached a catastrophic level, the UN chief said in his message.
” Millions of lives were lost and hundreds of millions of people fell ill. Economies were brought to their knees, healthcare systems strained, and trillions of dollars were swallowed up”he stressed, noting that the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals has been severely compromised.
Continuing in the same vein, he lamented that ” developing countries have, for their part, often been left to their fate, unfortunately being denied the vaccines, tests or treatments they need to protect their populations“.
Covid-19 will not be the last epidemic or pandemic that humanity will experience, warned the UN SG, warning that future health challenges could exceed previous ones in terms of intensity and severity.
” As a global community, we must learn the hard lessons of Covid-19 and invest aggressively in pandemic preparedness, prevention and response measures,” he insisted
For the UN Secretary-General, it is therefore important to improve surveillance to detect and closely monitor the evolution of viruses with epidemic potential, to ensure that health systems are more resilient and supported by coverage universal health, that health workers are well trained, well equipped and well remunerated.
” We also need all countries to have equitable access to vaccines, treatments, diagnostics and life-saving technologies.”he said, reiterating the importance of combating “the plague of misinformation and pseudoscience by science and factual information”.
This is why it is essential to strengthen awareness, exchange of information, scientific knowledge and good practices on effective prevention and response measures at local, national, regional and global levels.
He will conclude on this note: “A pandemic cannot be fought country by country. The whole world must join forces. The Covid-19 was a call to order”.