German health minister calls for creation of international treaty to combat pandemics

German Health Minister Jens Spahn has called for the development of an international treaty to prevent pandemics, Report informs referring to TASS.

He announced his proposal before the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly.

"States must commit themselves to cooperate and implement jointly established rules," Spahn said. At the same time, he added that against the background of recent events related to the spread of coronavirus, this kind of international interaction should become mandatory.

The creation of a global treaty against pandemics is expeted to be considered during the annual forum of the World Health Organization (WHO). Its task is to improve the exchange of information among countries in order to prevent the spread of infections around the world. At the same time, Spahn called on states to increase contributions to WHO.

“It cannot be correct that private foundations sometimes allocate more money than the biggest countries in the world,” the minister stressed, noting that currently one of the largest donors is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Now is the time for WHO reform,” said Spahn. “We have to use this.”