Image: European Union
Economic powers to “step up, align and track” preparedness efforts
Heads of the G7 group of leading global economies have agreed on the need to get their R&D systems better prepared for future pandemics.
“We recognise the need to foster R&D preparedness,” a communique adopted by the G7 leaders on 28 June said. “We will step up, align and track our efforts on pandemic preparedness in close cooperation with [the World Health Organization].”
The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US welcomed work to strengthen genomic sequencing and wastewater surveillance efforts for identifying potential outbreaks, and agreed that sharing health data was critical.
To help tackle the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, they said they were “committed to spearheading research on post-Covid conditions in view of their individual, social and economic repercussions”.
The leaders also acknowledged “the rapid rise in antimicrobial resistance” and said they would “spare no efforts to continue addressing this silent pandemic”, including by strengthening research and innovation around new treatments via international partnerships.
They said they were meeting in Germany (pictured) “at a critical juncture for the global community, to make progress towards an equitable world” given Russia’s “unjustifiable war of aggression” against Ukraine.