The world must work together now to prevent the next pandemic | Opinion

Countries around the world, with the support of the World Health Organization, are trying to negotiate agreements to overcome the pandemic we are facing now and those we will inevitably face in the future.

The negotiations have been difficult and the original deadline has passed. The road to success is difficult, but leaders need to continue on that path. A positive step was taken at the end of the World Health Assembly last week, when leaders committed to completing the negotiations no later than 12 months from now, and preferably by the end of 2024.

Global collaboration and cooperation can save and protect millions of lives. In the early 2000s, approximately 2 million people died from AIDS each year, and millions more lacked access to badly needed antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. Negotiations lowered prices and expanded manufacturing licenses, reducing the annual cost of HIV medications from $10,000 per person to about $60 in many countries with the highest infection rates.

As a result of our work, more than three-quarters of people living with HIV now have access to medicines that help them live long, healthy lives and stop the spread of the virus. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 20.8 million lives have been saved and 40 million HIV infections have been prevented. With the right leadership and investment, we are on track to end AIDS by 2030 – something many thought would never be possible in our lifetimes.

We need to prepare for the next pandemic. COVID-19 spread rapidly around the world, claiming more than 3 million lives in the first year. Research sharing and vaccine distribution ultimately saved an estimated 2.4 million lives, but vaccines were either administered too quickly or not widely enough.

The benefits of sharing knowledge on pandemic preparedness and response are undeniable, but so far it is only being done in response to the crisis and it is too late. We need to agree on how to share knowledge and support each other before the next pandemic hits. The current negotiations aim to ensure that our response to the next pandemic is stronger than the last by strengthening our joint efforts on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The agreement must ensure cooperation and coordination, especially with regard to the development and distribution of tests, vaccines, treatments and other pandemic-related products. Medical technologies must be produced and distributed broadly and equitably so that they are available to all. This is crucial to prevent the spread of the disease and the emergence of even more dangerous variants.

Wealthy countries have a responsibility to share information and know-how and ensure the production of life-saving medical products in developing countries. Developing countries have stressed the need for binding commitments to ensure that all countries have rapid access to vaccines, medicines and tests in the next pandemic, and that no particular country or company has a monopoly on the production of these essential tools. Unfortunately, there is strong resistance to these points.

Sharing is not sacrificing. No one wins if no one has access to medicines, because no one lives in isolation. As the emergence of COVID variants and the lives they have taken shows, the safety of people in wealthy countries depends entirely on enabling a fast, equitable and safe response to the next pandemic in the developing world.

The Biden administration recently released a Global Health Security Strategy, committing to working with other countries to combat infectious disease threats and make collective action more “efficient, effective, sustainable, and equitable.” This is a welcome step forward, and we cannot stop there.

As world leaders work to protect their own citizens from the pandemic, a coordinated approach that also protects the people of other countries is the best defense. That starts by ensuring that the scientific and medical advances that keep people safe are shared quickly and fairly. Infectious diseases know no borders, and our approach to fighting them must do the same. Working together is the only way we stay safe.

Chelsea Clinton is vice president of the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, which develops leaders and accelerates solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

Winnie Byanyima is Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, leading the UN effort to end the global AIDS pandemic by 2030.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.