When Diseases Cross Borders, So Must Solidarity

Trump's US has disengaged from several global health platforms. Covid taught us no one is safe until everyone is safe. With diverse threats looming, collective action is an imperative

- K SRINATH REDDY

Global health engagements through a petulant exit from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the evisceration of its international aid agency, two events in Geneva on May 19 unfurled the flag of global solidarity.

One, international negotiations on the Pandemic Treaty ended, with all participating WHO members agreeing on the final text. The treaty was cheered by an anxious world badly bruised by Covid's devastation and wary of more zoonotic pandemics on the horizon. It is the second-ever global health treaty to be concluded under auspices of the WHO, after the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control adopted in 2003.

The second was the convening of a forum—Digital Health Without Borders—to advance digital health applications across the world with impact, efficiency and equity. The event, organised by Dr Rajendra Gupta from India, was addressed by WHO's Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and leading digital technology experts as well as prominent representatives from the domains of medicine, nursing and public health. They advocated universal access to impactful digital health technologies to prevent pandemics and promote primary care-led universal health coverage.

These affirmations of a 'one world' approach are reassuring in a polarised political environment where the US and some other countries are retreating from adherence to principles of global solidarity. While the US and Argentina have quit the WHO, western European nations like the Netherlands and Germany have reduced their commitments to global aid. Trump and Musk have eviscerated USAID, which was a major contributor to global health programmes aimed at tackling infectious diseases like HIV-AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as maternal and child health protection. Scientific agencies like the National Institutes of Health have been disconnected from global research.