‘The Most Momentous Time in Global Healthcare Since 1948’

Skepticism stands in the way of a global pandemic treaty

As the world grappled with the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant in late 2021, representatives from nearly 200 countries meeting in Geneva with a shared goal: to prevent a future global outbreak by achieving the inaugural Global Pandemic Agreement.

With a May deadline looming, experts say the stakes of not reaching an agreement are immeasurable. They warn that an unknown pathogen could have even more catastrophic consequences than the coronavirus, which has already claimed 7 million lives and caused trillions of dollars in economic damage.

Despite intensified negotiations and the recent delivery of a new draft document, it remains uncertain whether a legally binding pact will be achieved by next month. The main hurdle revolves around access to crucial information about new threats that may emerge – as well as the vaccines and treatments that can counter them.

“It is the most momentous time in global health since 1948,” when… World Health Organisation was founded, thus Lawrence O. Gostindirector of the WHO Collaboration Center for Public Health Law And Human rights bee Georgetown University.

Much of the impasse centers on access to pathogens and benefit sharing. High-income countries are pushing for guarantees that samples and genetic data on emerging pathogens will be shared quickly to enable the development of tests, vaccines and treatments. Meanwhile, developing countries are seeking guarantees of benefits, such as equal access to vaccines and collaboration with local scientists.

The United States has done that expressed his support for a binding agreement, including using its purchasing power to improve global access to medicines. But it, like many other European Union countries, faces skepticism because it is the seat of the powerful pharmaceutical industry.

The company has also been plagued by misinformation on social media. That includes hostility towards the WHO and claims that any international agreement would threaten national sovereignty – claims the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has condemned as “utterly, completely, categorically false.”

In early April, Tedros made clear that the final agreement would not give the WHO the authority to enforce lockdowns or mask mandates within individual countries.

The policy became non-profit in mid-April Check the health policy a new one published bare design agreement sent to the Member States. It maintains support for equality but leaves out key details for the next two years, by which time the leadership of many instrumental countries, including the United States, may have changed. The meetings will resume on April 29.

You can read Frances’ full report here.

Today on tap: Vice President Harris will travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin, for a campaign event where she is expected to highlight the November election’s commitment to abortion rights.

This is Harris’ third visit to Wisconsin this year and follows a recent three-day tour of the state where two women competed. They say they have been denied access to medically necessary care because of their state’s abortion restrictions, according to the Biden-Harris reelection campaign.

From the notebooks of our reporters

HHS plans to finalize new federal health care privacy protections

Our colleague Dan Diamond sends us this message:

Available this week: New HIPAA rules for reproductive health care. The Biden administration will finalize a proposal to protect the medical records of patients and health care providers from Republican prosecutors, according to a Department of Health and Human Services e-mail that an official sent to reporters last week. Under current rules, there is an exception in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that allows organizations to release private medical information to law enforcement in certain circumstances, such as when there is an ongoing criminal investigation.

Patients and health care workers have said they worry that reproductive health care procedures will become a target, especially as some Republican attorneys general have threatened to crack down on women who cross state lines to legally end a pregnancy, or insist that abortions should be a matter of abortion. a public register. (HIPAA has also been the source of considerable confusion in the nearly thirty years since it was enacted, with some health care professionals and patients frequently mistaken about what the law means—or even how it is spelled.)

In the meantime, zoom out… Several other long-awaited final rules were recently adopted by the White House Office of Management and Budget, meaning they can be deleted at any time. That includes the Biden administration minimum staff mandate for nursing homes and guidelines that strive for this restore protections for LGBTQ Americans and other groups seeking health care services that were crushed under the former president Donald Trump.

SCOTUS is facing a public health challenge: homeless encampments

Today on tap: The Supreme Court will consider whether unhoused people could be fined or criminally prosecuted for camping and sleeping in public places when shelter beds are not available.

Competing public health issues are at the heart of the matter. Democratic leaders in West Coast cities claim a lower court ruling has declared the practice unconstitutional made it harder to address safety and public health risks associated with the encampments, including widespread chronic disease, substance abuse and mental illness.

Yet a growing body of evidence suggests that sweeps can deteriorate health of people in camps while causing turmoil in their lives and for the people who try to care for them – This may cost taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs even more money, like Angela Hart from KFF Health News previously described in The Health 202.

The matter is the City of Grants Pass. Oregon vs. Gloria Johnson. et al.

Newsom is proposing a bill to help Arizonans get abortions in California

Governor of California Gavin Newsom (D) will introduce legislation that seeks to make it easier for Arizonans to get abortions in his state, in a move that comes shortly after The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a near-total abortion ban dating from 1864 could come into effect in the coming weeks, The Post reports Mariana Alfaro reports.

Newsom announced the proposal yesterday during an appearance on MSNBC‘Inside with Jen Psaki’ says it’s time for those who support abortion access to respond assertively to Republican-led bans on the procedure. The emergency legislation would expedite the licensing of abortion providers in Arizona to allow them to treat their patients in California. It will be introduced in the statehouse this week through the Legislature’s Women’s Assembly, Newsom added.

California’s governor also unveiled one new ad targeting has proposed legislation in Alabama that would make it illegal for people to help minors obtain abortion care without notifying a parent or legal guardian. Newsom’s Political Action Committee, Campaign for democracyis paying for the ad as part of its multi-state campaign on abortion rights.

Abortion rights advocates are explore options for a potential 2026 ballot initiative that would restore and protect access to reproductive care in the state Idaho capital sun‘S Kelcie Moseley-Morris reports.

Main context: The effort follows a second legislative session in which Idaho lawmakers chose not to clarify or change a near-total abortion ban that punishes providers with prison time. “In the absence of a cure, we are moving full steam ahead,” the spokesperson said Melanie Folwella spokeswoman for the group Idahoans United for Women and Families.

Yes but: The citizen voting process cannot amend the state constitution; only the Idaho Legislature has that authority. Instead, the effort would come in the form of proposed legislation that voters would have to approve. The specific details of the proposal have yet to be determined, with Folwell saying it may be difficult to disentangle the state’s overlapping abortion laws with a single piece of legislation.

A trio of Democratic senators is tackling childhood obesity and diabetes

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Boeker (DN.J.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) legislation introduced Friday to fight the childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics in the United States by going after ultra-processed food companies, our colleague Lauren Weber writes.

Their bill calls for a ban on junk food advertising aimed at children in the United States, and for new health and nutrient warning labels from the U.S. government. Food and Drug Administration. It would also place an order Research from the National Institutes of Health in “the dangers of ultra-processed foods,” according to a press release from the senators.

“We cannot continue to allow major food and beverage companies to place their profits on the health and well-being of our children,” Sanders said in a press release. He noted that Congress had previously cracked down on the tobacco industry, adding that it was time to do the same for big food companies.

As part of that, last year The Post exposed the lack of advertising regulation and lax food standards for children in the United States Dying early series examining the chronic disease epidemic in America.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):

Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, causing one to miscarry in a lobby restroom (by Amanda Seitz | The Associated Press)

Some older women need additional breast scans. Why won’t Medicare pay? (By Roni Caryn Rabin | The New York Times)

Medicare Ignored Expert Advice to Cut Tests for Transplant Patients: Report (by Cheyanne M. Daniels | The Hill)

Thank you for reading! See you tomorrow.