UN urges global solidarity to fight infectious diseases

UNITED NATIONS • United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for global solidarity to stop infectious diseases.

In his video message for the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on Monday, the UN chief said that building global solidarity would "give every country a fighting chance to stop infectious diseases in their tracks".

Covid-19 continues to demonstrate how quickly "an infectious disease can sweep across the world", pushing health systems to the brink and upending daily life for all of humanity, he said.

"It also revealed our failure to learn the lessons of recent health emergencies like Sars, avian influenza, Zika, Ebola and others," he said. "And it reminded us that the world remains woefully unprepared to stop localised outbreaks from spilling across borders, and spiralling into a global pandemic."

Noting that infectious diseases remain "a clear and present danger to every country", Mr Guterres emphasised that the coronavirus would not be the last pandemic for humanity.

Even as the world responds to this health crisis, he emphasised the need to prepare for the next one. "This means scaling up investments in better monitoring, early detection and rapid response plans in every country - especially the most vulnerable," he said.

"It means strengthening pri-mary healthcare at the local level to prevent collapse... ensuring equitable access to lifesaving inter-ventions, like vaccines for all people and... achieving universal health coverage."

The first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was called for by the UN General Assembly and marked on Dec 27 last year.

XINHUA