Bangladesh's Hasina calls for a global treaty to tackle future pandemics

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon the world leaders to sign a 'Pandemic Treaty’ to tackle any future pandemics together.

"We must work towards concluding the Pandemic Treaty for an inclusive and equitable response to future pandemics," she said in a pre-recorded statement on Sunday, featured on the opening day of the 75th World Health Assembly.

The assembly is taking place in Geneva and will end on May 28.

Hasina said since the pandemic is still having significant impacts on lives and livelihoods around the world, world leaders cannot ensure sustainable recovery by leaving millions behind in the vaccination efforts.

"Technology and technical know-how need to be shared to scale up vaccine production in developing countries like Bangladesh."

The Bangladesh leader said her country, despite being a nation with limited resources, did its best by standing beside its neighbours with medicines, PPEs and healthcare workers. "We believe that vaccines should be treated as global public goods."

She highlighted Bangladesh’s example by saying her government has managed to tackle the threat of the Covid-19 virus through a combination of healthcare and social safety measures.

"We [Bangladesh government] rolled out twenty-eight stimulus packages worth $23 billion, which is about 6.3% of our GDP. We provided furlough and other assistance to nearly 40 million vulnerable people. We provided vaccines to our people free of cost," she said.

Praising the Bangladeshi health workers highly for their relentless efforts, the prime minister said with their help, her government managed to contain the pandemic even in the most densely populated camps for Myanmar's forcibly displaced Rohingya.

"We are grateful for the dedicated work of our frontline service providers," she said.

Thanking Bangladesh's development partners for their donation of vaccines, including through COVAX, Sheikh Hasina said close to 100% of the target population has already been vaccinated.

"My government allocated $1.61 billion for procuring vaccines from our national budget," she said.

The prime minister said the world community must pay close attention to climate change impacts on disease burden.

Bangladesh stands ready to collaborate on medical research, including for neglected tropical diseases, she said, adding that anti-microbial resistance needs to be addressed in a concerted manner.

"We must remain focused on non-communicable diseases expanding in developing countries," Hasina opined.

The premier emphasised investing more in research and access to cancer and diabetes treatments and mentioned that mental health issues deserve to be addressed as part of health emergency response.

"We seek international support in preventing road accidents, drowning and other public health hazards," she added.

Thanking the Indian government and World Health Organisation, or WHO, for taking the mantle of traditional medicine research and standards, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh remains committed to achieving SDG-3 to promote healthy living for people of all ages.

Noting that the WHO remains the most important actor in global health governance, she said: "We must provide sustainable financing and allow necessary reforms to enable WHO to support health systems around the world."

French President Emmanuel Macron, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, presidents of Kenya, Dominican Republic, Botswana, Croatia and the vice-president of Ecuador also addressed the assembly on Sunday.