The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board is deeply concerned by the COVID-19 situation globally, which has entered a new and very serious phase. The number of new cases continues to grow and hospitals and health workers in many countries are overwhelmed, with oxygen and COVID-19 treatments in critically low supply. Health care systems are under extreme pressure, some are close to collapse or have collapsed. This situation is beyond the capacity of the health sector to solve on its own; it requires a determined and collective political response. It is now a whole of society, a humanitarian and a security issue.
This virus knows no borders and the disastrous situation is now threatening the whole South Asia region, the Middle East, and South East Asia. The situation in South and Central America continues to worsen and the continent of Africa is at grave risk of further waves, as in South Asia. If the virus takes hold of very vulnerable regions with millions of displaced people and fragile or conflict zones, the world will face a public health and humanitarian disaster of unprecedented magnitude.
The GPMB urges mobilization of an international response to urgently support India as it fights to contain the virus and assist vulnerable countries in the region to prevent a potential surge in cases. GPMB urges countries to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, including through the COVAX facility. COVAX has insufficient supplies to respond to this crisis at the scale that is required –we therefore ask G7 and G20 nations to immediately begin sharing their current supply, and commit to a roadmap for sharing their future supply through COVAX.
The GPMB calls on the UN Security Council to demonstrate its concern and immediately take action with the World Health Organization and the United Nations to prevent this rapidly growing crisis from escalating further. We ask for this situation to be urgently put on the agenda of the upcoming G7 and G20 meetings as well as the regional bodies and international finance organizations. If we do not act now, this will turn into a world crisis –health,social and economic –of historic proportions.
H.E. Gro Harlem Brundtland
Co-Chair, GPMB
Former Prime Minister, Norway
Former Director-General, WHO
Mr Elhadj As Sy
Co-Chair, GPMB
Chair, Kofi Annan Foundation Board
Former Secretary-General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
About the GPMB
As an independent monitoring and advocacy body, the GPMB urges political action to prepare for and mitigate the effects of global health emergencies. Co-convened by the World Bank Group and the WHO, the GPMB works independently to provide
expert assessments and recommendations on the state of global preparedness. The opinions and recommendations of the GPMB are those of the Board and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group and WHO.