World Health Assembly hopes to reinforce pandemic preparedness after bold treaty project stalls

The World Health Organization is beginning its annual meeting with government ministers and other top envoys hoping to reinforce global preparedness for the next pandemic in the devastating wake of COVID-19. But the most ambitious project, to adopt a pandemic “treaty,” has been shelved for now after 2 1/2 years of work failed to produce a draft that countries could unite behind by Friday, as originally hoped. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insists it’s not a “failure” and the World Health Assembly this week can still plot the way forward.