Don’t Delay Reforms to Prepare for Next Pandemic, Urges WHO Chief

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends the World Health Assembly at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 21, 2023. (Reuters)
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends the World Health Assembly at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 21, 2023. (Reuters)
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Don’t Delay Reforms to Prepare for Next Pandemic, Urges WHO Chief

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends the World Health Assembly at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 21, 2023. (Reuters)
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends the World Health Assembly at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 21, 2023. (Reuters)

The head of the World Health Organization urged countries on Monday to carry out reforms needed to prepare for the next pandemic, hailing their "historic" decision to accept a major budget hike at the UN agency's annual assembly.

Speaking at the assembly weeks after ending the global emergency status for the COVID-19 pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was time to advance negotiations on preventing the next pandemic.

"We cannot kick this can down the road," the WHO director-general said in a major address to the agency's member states, warning that the next pandemic was bound to "come knocking".

"If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when?" he said.

The 10-day annual World Health Assembly in Geneva, which coincides with the WHO's 75th anniversary, is set to address global health challenges including future pandemics, eradicating polio and supporting steps to ease Ukraine's health emergency triggered by Russia's invasion.

The WHO's 194 member states are now drafting a pandemic treaty which is up for adoption at next year's assembly.

"A commitment from this generation (to a pandemic accord) is important, because it is this generation that experienced how awful a small virus could be," said Tedros.

At the same meeting, countries approved a $6.83 billion budget for 2024-25 - a decision that tested national commitments to fixing a WHO funding model which was seen as too small and overly reliant on the vagaries of donors.

The budget includes a 20% increase in member states' mandatory fees under a preliminary agreement reached last year in exchange for a commitment to reforms including on budget, governance and finance policies.

US Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Michele J. Sison said future increases would be "contingent upon continued reform progress". Central and South American countries also called for the WHO to address what they described as chronic underfunding of their region.



Australian Hiker Found Alive after Surviving for Two Weeks on Berries and Muesli Bars

A general view of Cooma Hospital where hiker Hadi Nazari was transferred to for a health check in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
A general view of Cooma Hospital where hiker Hadi Nazari was transferred to for a health check in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
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Australian Hiker Found Alive after Surviving for Two Weeks on Berries and Muesli Bars

A general view of Cooma Hospital where hiker Hadi Nazari was transferred to for a health check in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, 08 January 2025. (EPA)
A general view of Cooma Hospital where hiker Hadi Nazari was transferred to for a health check in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia, 08 January 2025. (EPA)

An Australian student missing for two weeks near the country's tallest mountain was found on Wednesday, after surviving by foraging for berries, drinking water from a creek and finding two muesli bars left behind by other hikers, police said.

Hadi Nazari, a 23-year-old university student from Melbourne, went missing from his group of friends on December 26 in the Kosciuszko National Park.

Nazari was found on Wednesday afternoon by a group of hikers who alerted the authorities, police in the state of New South Wales said.

“This is the fourteenth day we've been looking for him and for him to come out and be in such good spirits and in such great condition, it’s incredible," NSW Police Inspector Josh Broadfoot said.

The student was in "really good spirits" with no significant injuries, he added.

More than 300 people had searched for Nazari across rugged bushland, police said. The national park is home to the 2,228 meter (7,310 foot) Mount Kosciuszko.