Kenya has stepped up the process of developing a position on the proposed Pandemic Treaty that seeks to strengthen the international legal framework pandemic prevention, preparedness and response towards an expected epidemic outbreak.

The country and the Africa Union member states, also affiliated to the United Nations, have two months, or less, to also amend the International Health Regulations, 2005 ahead of the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA) to be held from May 27 to June 1, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Important process

Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary, Mary Muthoni yesterday said Kenya is committed to this process, which she described as important processes in the background of the pain Kenyans and Africa suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to see the issues that affected African countries during the pandemic addressed in the amendments,” she said during a stakeholder’s roundtable on the public participation on the development of the Pandemic Treaty and the Amendments to the International Health Regulations, 2005.

Muthoni noted that some of the issues Kenya is passionate to see being resolved borrow from the experiences during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During that period, we saw disruption of health systems and interruption of global supply chain systems, which led to delayed delivery of life-saving medicines, Personal Protective Equipments and commodities that were critical in national pandemic response efforts,” she said, noting that this led to devastating consequences, as well as loss of lives and livelihoods.