No more pandemics! Bearing witness to COVID-19 and committing to a more secure future

Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf The Right Honourable Helen Clark Co-Chair Co-Chair No more pandemics! Bearing witness to COVID-19 and committing to a more secure future 3 of 19 No more pandemics! Bearing witness to COVID-19 and committing to a more secure future 4 of 19 Introduction Seized by the gravity of the COVID-19 crisis, the World Health Assembly in May 2020 requested the WHO Director-. [...] The series of measures the Panel has recommended, including monitoring and accountability supported by a Global Health Threats Council, a declaration of the United Nations General Assembly, and a new Pandemic Framework Convention, are designed to equip the international system to deliver more effectively © Kevin Van Paassen / the practical realization of the right to health. [...] As the tier of government which is closest to communities, local © Katumba Badru government has been confronted directly by many of the starkest inequalities of the pandemic, but it has also been the font of many of the most innovative and effective responses. [...] A repeated refrain in the testimony presented to the Panel was the failure of coordinating authorities to include those most affected and at the frontlines of the response. [...] The Panel found that one of the characteristics of countries “…you are first in the that had the worst results in tacking COVID-19 was that they “lacked response, but often the capacity to mobilize quickly and coordinate between national and last in the policy- making queue” subnational responses” (10).