IHR

• However, it would be a mistake to assume that this is a mere formality.
• A PHEIC, like the one adopted for COVID-19 on Jan. 30, 2020, is declared if a public health event is determined to constitute:

• A PHEIC means the WHO is sounding the loudest possible alarm to national governments to act together with urgency.
• However, the heightened state of emergency under a PHEIC is not meant to be sustained indefinitely.

Significance of the end of the COVID-19 PHEIC

• Moreover, the phrase “no one is safe until everyone is safe” may have become a familiar tagline during the pandemic.
• Yet, many people, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, still struggle to access COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.
• Second, the standing down of the PHEIC declaration is accompanied by an understandable desire — and necessity — to “move on” from COVID-19 after three difficult years.
• The lack of real-world authority by the WHO to enforce the legally binding IHR has become abundantly clear.

Global co-ordination fell short

• Still, what ensued fell far short of a co-ordinated global effort.
• Read more:
  COVID-19 vaccine inequity allowed Omicron to emerge

  The need for collective action during global public health emergencies like COVID-19 has only been reinforced by the past three years.

• Additionally, travel measures implemented in response to COVID-19, and in previous PHEICs, fell inequitably upon different population groups.
• Meanwhile, a new pandemic may already be on the horizon as the global and interspecies spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza is raising growing alarm.

• The WHO Director General originally declared that the COVID-19 pandemic constituted a PHEIC on January 30, 2020.
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada's top priority has been protecting the health and safety of all Canadians.
• Even though the WHO Director General determined the current COVID-19 situation no longer constitutes a PHEIC, the Government of Canada recognizes that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is still circulating across Canada and worldwide.
• PHAC will continue to provide public updates as new information related to our domestic situation arises.

• SAN ANTONIO, April 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Frost & Sullivan analyzed the enterprise imaging industry and its evolving cloud-based requirements and, based on its research, recognizes Agfa HealthCare with the 2023 Global Customer Value Leadership Award.
• Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging platform reduces organizational complexity and redundancy, helping healthcare providers achieve their clinical, operational, and business strategies from product development to implementation.
• Every remote monitoring system notifies Agfa HealthCare of potential issues, allowing it to remedy problems before they arise."
• Its overall customer-first approach offers immense value to existing and new customers," added Manuel Albornoz, best practices research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

• Yesterday, the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB), the entity tasked with drafting and negotiating a pandemic treaty, published its “zero draft” for countries to consider before negotiations officially kick off at the end of this month.
• While the Panel strongly supports the INB’s commitment to equity, there are worrying gaps in its effort to ensure accountability mechanisms are agreed from the start.
• Accountability is one of the most sparingly used terms in the treaty, and when it is used, it’s clear that real decisions on compliance will be kicked down the road.
• Countries must know what they are responsible for and who they are responsible to before the treaty is finalized, not after.