The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday endorsed that we must bring an end to the pandemic in 2022. According to him, 2022 should be the year in which all countries contribute to preventing the deadly virus and a similar disaster in the future too.
His statement came out at a news conference in Geneva where he urged countries to invest in avoiding possible outbreaks like COVID-19 in the upcoming times. He stressed achieving sustainable goals that consist of investing in healthcare systems created upon primary health care with universal health care in mind.
The data suggests that around one billion people were already spending more than 10 percent of their family budget on health even before the pandemic. As per WHO, the whole society comes at risk when someone cannot access the necessary services. That’s why the global health agency is committed to doing everything in its power to end the ongoing pandemic and start a new epoch of universal health. The WHO is looking to build an era where health is a relevant part of progress in every nation’s development goals.
The WHO head did acknowledge that everyone wants to spend time with their loved ones in the ongoing holiday season. Everybody wants to get back to normal like in old times. Regardless, of all sentiments that people might be sensing, WHO believes that it’s best to safeguard oneself from the virus first especially when the newly detected Omicron variant is on the surge.
Ever since Omicron came to light it had shoved the popular assumption that the worst of the pandemic was over. The variant was initially reported in South Africa around November and up until now, it has been reported in Europe and many other parts of the globe. Studies tell that Omicron is highly transmissible and many means identical to the Delta variant.
According to Tedros, with the Omicron on the rise, people should consider canceling festive celebrations. “Better to cancel events now and celebrate later than celebrate now and grieve later”, he quoted in the conference. The focus should be on ending the pandemic. Tedros asserted that reaching this goal depends on the usage of all the existing tools such as vaccines, masks, social distancing, and so on.
Taking all the public health measures will ensure victory over the pandemic since right now the world knows more about the virus than before. Not just that the tools are even better than what they were in the beginning. According to him, it is just a matter of proper implementation of tools and knowledge. At last, he further emphasized the need to end the unfairness in the availability of vaccines. If the inequity in vaccines cannot end then the pandemic cannot come to an end as well.