Costa Rica supports more robust international health architecture

By IDeas trademarks & patents

A recent proposal signed by heads of state from all the world and backed by the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom, calls for a more robust international health architecture to protect future generations.

The document is signed by Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica, and looks for world governments and agencies to be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s. At that time, following the devastation of two world wars, political leaders came together to forge the multilateral system. The aims were clear: to bring countries together, to dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, namely peace, prosperity, health and security,” the statement says.


It refers specifically to the need of ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for the current and future pandemics, as “immunization is a global public good that needs to be able to develop, manufacture and deploy vaccines as quickly as possible”.  

This is why the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) was set up in order to promote equal access to tests, treatments and vaccines and support health systems across the globe. ACT-A has delivered on many aspects but equitable access is not achieved yet. “There is more we can do to promote global access,” the heads of state affirm.


Such a renewed collective commitment would be a milestone in stepping up pandemic preparedness at the highest political level. It would be rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization, drawing in other relevant organizations key to this endeavour, in support of the principle of health. Existing global health instruments, especially the International Health Regulations, would underpin such a treaty, ensuring a firm and tested foundation on which we can build and improve.


“The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international cooperation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research, and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health counter measures, such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment.”