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World Health Assembly attempts to improve global readiness for pandemics
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), delivers his statement, during the opening of the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA77) at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 27, 2024 [Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP]

THE World Health Organisation’s (WHO) annual assembly kicked off on Monday with hopes of improving global readiness for deadly outbreaks like Covid-19, after an ambitious “pandemic treaty” stalled last week.

Health officials are racing to get the world to agree to new ways to prepare for and fight an inevitable future pandemic. 

Covid-19 is fading into memory as elections and crises like climate change and war compete for the public’s attention.

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