'None of us is safe until all of us are safe', says UN Chief as nations pledge 7.4 billion Euros for COVID-19 research
Brussels/IBNS: Stressing on a comprehensive and coordinated effort to develop medicines to deal with COVID-19, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the most massive public health effort in history since it is an interconnected world where “none of us is safe until all of us are safe”.
The UN Secretary-General said this at the COVID-19 Global Response International Pledging Event, hosted by the European Commission, in which 40 countries pledged 7.4 billion euros to the WHO initiative--Access to COVID-19 Tools (act) Accelerator-- for the research and development of breakthrough vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics needed to control COVID-19.
Addressing the European Union pledging conference in Brussels, Guterres said: “Comprehensive, coordinated public health measures are critical to slow transmission and to save lives. But even countries that have taken such steps remain in jeopardy. And the virus is still likely to strike many countries that are least able to cope. In an interconnected world, none of us is safe until all of us are safe."
Expressing concerns over the insufficient solidarity with developing countries in equipping them to tackle COVID-19 and the consequent economic impact, he said COVID-19 has “spread to every corner of the world, infecting more than three million people and claiming more than 220,000 lives.”
The UN chief stressed that the new tools can help the world control the coronavirus pandemic and must be treated as global public goods, available and affordable for all.
“We have a common vision. Let us now put people first everywhere,” the UN chief added.
South Africa, Rwanda, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Finland and Costa Rica are the other countries, apart from the European Commission, involved in the overall effort include
The US and China, the two top economies, have not joined the ACT Accelerator drive.
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