Feature Story

L'humanité d'aujourd'hui, vulnérable face à ce virus, est à la recherche d'un vaccin efficace et sûr contre le COVID-19. C'est notre meilleur espoir de mettre un terme à cette douloureuse pandémie mondiale.

Nous demandons aux ministres de la santé réunis à l'Assemblée mondiale de la santé de se rallier d'urgence à la cause d'un vaccin pour tou-te-s contre cette maladie. Les gouvernements et les partenaires internationaux doivent s’engager : lorsqu'un vaccin sûr et efficace sera développé, il devra être produit rapidement à grande échelle et mis gratuitement à la disposition de tous, dans tous les pays. Il en va de même pour tous les traitements, diagnostics et autres technologies contre le COVID-19.

Nous reconnaissons que de nombreux pays et organisations internationales progressent vers cet objectif, en coopérant multilatéralement en matière de recherche et de développement, de financement et d'accès, y compris les 7,4 milliards d’euros annoncés le 4 mai dernier, dont il faut se féliciter. Grâce aux efforts inlassables des secteurs public et privés, et à des milliards de dollars de recherche financée par les pouvoirs publics, la découverte d’un vaccin potentiel progresse à une vitesse sans précédent et plusieurs essais cliniques ont déjà commencé.

Notre monde sera plus sûr que lorsque tout le monde pourra bénéficier de la science et avoir accès à un vaccin – ce qui est un défi politique. L'Assemblée mondiale de la santé doit parvenir à un accord mondial qui garantisse un accès universel rapide à des vaccins et à des traitements de qualité, les besoins étant prioritaires sur la capacité de payer.

Il est temps que les ministres de la Santé renouvellent les engagements pris lors de la création de l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), où tous les États ont convenu d'assurer "le meilleur état de santé possible en tant que droit fondamental de tout être humain".

Ce n'est pas le moment de favoriser les intérêts des entreprises et des gouvernements les plus riches, au détriment de la nécessité universelle de sauver des vies, ou de laisser cette tâche importante et morale aux forces du marché. L'accès aux vaccins et aux traitements en tant que biens publics mondiaux est dans l'intérêt de toute l'humanité. Nous ne pouvons pas laisser des monopoles, une concurrence grossière et un nationalisme myope faire obstacle à cet accès à la santé.

Nous devons tenir compte de l'avertissement selon lequel "ceux qui ne se souviennent pas du passé sont condamnés à le répéter". Nous devons tirer les douloureuses leçons d'une histoire d'inégalité d'accès face à des maladies telles que le VIH et le virus Ebola. Mais nous devons également nous souvenir des victoires révolutionnaires des mouvements de santé, notamment des militants et des défenseurs de la lutte contre le sida qui se sont battus pour l'accès de tou-te-s à des médicaments abordables.

En appliquant ces leçons, nous appelons à un accord mondial sur les vaccins, les diagnostics et les traitements COVID-19 - mis en œuvre sous la direction de l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé - qui :

1. Garantit le partage mondial obligatoire de toutes les connaissances, données et technologies liées au COVID-19 avec un ensemble de licences COVID-19 librement accessibles à tous les pays. Les pays devraient être habilités et autorisés à utiliser pleinement les sauvegardes et les flexibilités convenues dans la déclaration de Doha sur l'accord sur les ADPIC et la santé publique afin de protéger l'accès aux médicaments pour tous.
2. Établit un plan mondial et équitable de fabrication et de distribution rapide - entièrement financé par les pays riches - pour le vaccin et tous les produits et technologies COVID-19, qui garantit la transparence "au prix coûtant réel" et l'approvisionnement en fonction des besoins. Il est urgent d'agir pour renforcer massivement les capacités mondiales de fabrication de milliards de doses de vaccins et pour former et recruter les millions d'agents de santé rémunérés et protégés nécessaires pour les administrer.
3. Garantit que les vaccins, diagnostics, tests et traitements COVID-19 sont fournis gratuitement à tous, partout. L'accès doit être prioritairement réservé aux travailleurs de première ligne, aux personnes les plus vulnérables et aux pays pauvres les moins à même de sauver des vies.

Ce faisant, personne ne peut être laissé pour compte. Une gouvernance démocratique et transparente doit être mise en place par l'OMS, avec la participation d'experts indépendants et de partenaires de la société civile, ce qui est essentiel pour garantir la redevabilité de cet accord.

Ce faisant, nous reconnaissons également le besoin urgent de réformer et de renforcer les systèmes de santé publics dans le monde entier, en supprimant tous les obstacles afin que les riches comme les pauvres puissent accéder aux soins de santé, aux technologies et aux médicaments dont ils ont besoin, gratuitement au moment où ils en ont besoin.

Seul un vaccin pour tous - dont l'égalité et la solidarité sont la base - peut protéger toute l'humanité et permettre à nos sociétés de fonctionner à nouveau en toute sécurité. Un accord international audacieux ne peut pas attendre.

Signé,

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – President of the Republic of Ghana

Imran Khan - Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Cyril Ramaphosa - President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union

Macky Sall - President of the Republic of Senegal

Karen Koning Abuzayd - Commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria, Under Secretary-General as UNRWA Commissioner-General (2005-2010)

Maria Elena Agüero - Secretary General, World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid

Esko Aho - Prime Minister of Finland (1991-1995)¹

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar - Former UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Rashid Alimov - Secretary General, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (2016-2019), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan (1992-1994)²

Amat Alsoswa - Former Yemen’s Minister for Human Rights, Former United Nations Assistant Secretary General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director/ Arab States Bureau

Philip Alston - John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, New York University School of Law and Former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Baroness Valerie Amos - United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (2010-2015)

Rosalia Arteaga Serrano - President of Ecuador (1997)²

Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Salvador (1999-2004)

Shaukat Aziz - Prime Minister of Pakistan (2004-2007), former VP of the Citibank²

Jan Peter Balkenende - Prime Minister of The Netherlands (2002-2010)¹

Joyce Banda - President of the Republic of Malawi (2012-2014) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Nelson Barbosa - Professor, FGV and the University of Brasilia, and former Finance Minister of Brazil

José Manuel Barroso - Prime Minister of Portugal (2002-2004), President of the European Commission (2004-2014)¹

Carol Bellamy - Former Executive Director, UNICEF (1995-2005)

Valdis Birkavs - Prime Minister of Latvia (1993-1994)¹

Irina Bokova - Director-General of UNESCO (2009-2017)

Gordon Brown - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007-2010)

Sharan Burrow - General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)*

Winnie Byanyima - Executive Director of UNAIDS and UN Under-Secretary General

Kathy Calvin - Former Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation

Kim Campbell - Prime Minister of Canada (1993)¹

Fernando Henrique Cardoso - President of Brazil (1995-2003)¹

Gina Casar - Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, World Food Programme

Hikmet Cetin - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey (1991-1994), former Speaker of the Parliament²

Ha-Joon Chang - Director, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge

Judy Cheng-Hopkins - Former Assistant Secretary-General, Peacebuilding Support, United Nations

Laura Chinchilla - President of Costa Rica (2010-2014)¹

Joaquim Chissano - President of the Republic of Mozambique (1986-2005) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Helen Clark - Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008), UNDP Administrator (2009-2017)¹²

Emil Constantinescu - President of Romania (1996-2000)²

Radhika Coomaraswamy - former UN Under Secretary General and The Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict

Ertharin Cousin - Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (2012-2017)

Paula A. Cox - Premier of Bermuda (2010-2012)

Herman De Croo - Minister of State of Belgium; Honorary Speaker of the House²

Olivier De Schutter - Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Danny Dorling - Professor of Human Geography at Oxford University

Ruth Dreifuss - President of Switzerland (1999) and Federal Councillor (1993-2002)

Diane Elson - Emeritus Professor University of Essex, Member of UN Committee for Development Policy

Maria Fernanda Espinosa - President of the United Nations General Assembly (2018-2019), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador (2007-2009, 2017-2018) and Member of the Political Advisory Panel of UHC2030

Moussa Faki - Chairperson of the African Union Commission

Christiana Figueres - Executive Secretary of UNFCCC (2010-2016)

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir - President of Iceland (1980-1996)¹

Louise Fréchette - UN Deputy Secretary-General (1998-2006)

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr - Director of the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs and Professor of International Affairs at The New School

Patrick Gaspard - Former United States Ambassador to South Africa, President of the Open Society Foundations

Jayati Ghosh - Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University

Felipe González - President of the Government of Spain (1982-1996)¹

Rebeca Grynspan - Vice President of Costa Rica (1994-1998), Ibero-American Secretary General

Alfred Gusenbauer - Chancellor of Austria (2007-2008)¹

Tarja Halonen - President of Finland 2000-2012, BoT Member NGIC*

Han Seung-Soo - Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (2008-2009)¹

Noeleen Heyzer - Member of the UN Secretary-General's High Level Advisory Board on Medication²

Mladen Ivanic - President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014-2018)²

Devaki Jain - Feminist economist, Honorary Fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford and member of the erstwhile South Commission (1987-90)

Arjun Jayadev - Professor of Economics at Azim Premji University

Rob Johnson - President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - President of the Republic of Liberia (2006-2018)¹

Mehdi Jomaa - Prime Minister of Tunisia (2014-2015)¹

Anthony T. Jones - Vice-President and Executive Director of Gorbachev Foundation of North America (GFNA)¹

Ivo Josipovic - President of Croatia (2010-2015)²

Naila Kabeer - Professor of Gender and International Development at the London School of Economics

Michel Kazatchkine - Special Advisor to the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Senior Fellow, Global Health Center, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Kerry Kennedy - President Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, BoT Member NGIC*

Rima Khalaf - President of the Global Organization against Racial Discrimination and Segregation, and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (2010-2017)

Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete - President of Tanzania (2005-2015)*

Horst Köhler - President of Germany (2004-2010)¹

Jadranka Kosor - Prime Minister of Croatia (2009-2011)²

Bernard Kouchner - Minister of Health of France (1992-1993, 1997-1999, 2001-2002), Minister of Foreign affairs of France (2007-2010); founder of Médecins sans frontiers / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Médecins du Monde / Doctors of the World (MdM)

Chandrika Kumaratunga - President of Sri Lanka (1994-2005)¹

Aleksander Kwaśniewski - President of Poland (1995-2005)¹²

Rachel Kyte CMG - Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera - President of Uruguay (1990-1995)¹

Ricardo Lagos - President of Chile (2000-2006)¹

Zlatko Lagumdzija - Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001-2002)¹²

Laura Liswood - Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders

Nora Lustig - President Emerita of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association, Professor of Latin American Economics, Tulane University

Jessie Rose Mabutas - Executive Board Member, African Capacity Building Foundation, Expert Member, Accreditation Panel of the UN Adaptation Fund, and Executive Board Member, Section on African Public Administration of the American Society for Public Administration

Graça Machel - Founder, The Graça Machel Trust and Foundation for Community Development

Susana Malcorra - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina (2015-2017)

Isabel Saint Malo - Vice President of Panama (2014-2019)

Purnima Mane - Global expert on gender, HIV and sexual and reproductive health issues, President of Pathfinder International (2012-2016)

Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi - Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia*

Mariana Mazzucato - Professor at University College London and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)

Mary McAleese - President of Ireland (1997-2011)

Rexhep Meidani - President of Albania (1997-2002)¹²

Carlos Mesa - President of Bolivia (2003-2005)¹

Branko Milanovic - Visiting Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center City University of New York

Aïchatou Mindaoudou - United Nations' Special Representative for Côte d'Ivoire and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (2013-2017)

Festus Mogae - President of the Republic of Botswana (1998-2008) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Mario Monti - Prime Minister of Italy (2011-2013)¹

Mireya Moscoso - President of Panama (1999-2004)*

Kgalema Motlanthe - President of the Republic of South Africa (2008-2009) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation

Rovshan Muradov - Secretary General, Nizami Ganjavi International Center

Cristina Narbona - First Vice President of the Spaniard Senate and former Minister of the Environment of Spain

Bujar Nishani - President of Albania (2012-2017)²

Dr. John Nkengasong - Director of African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Olusegun Obasanjo - President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999-2007) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation¹

Djoomart Otorbayev - Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan (2014-2015)²

Roza Otunbayeva - President of Kyrgyzstan (2010-2011)¹

Ana Palacio - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain (2002-2004)

Dr. David Pan - Executive Dean, Steve Scwarcman College, Tsinghua University China²

Flavia Pansieri - Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights (2013-2015)

Elsa Papademetriou - former Vice President of the Hellenic Republic (2007-2009)²

Andres Pastrana - President of Colombia (1998-2002)¹

Muhammad Ali Pate - Global Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice of the World Bank and Director of Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents 

Kate Pickett - Professor of Epidemiology at the University of York

Thomas Piketty - Professor of Economics at the Paris School of Economics and a co-director of the World Inequality Database

Rosen Plevneliev - President of Bulgaria (2012-2017)²

Hifikepunye Pohamba - President of the Republic of Namibia (2005-2015) and Champion for an AIDS- Free Generation

Karin Sham Pòo - Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF (1987-2004)

Achal Prabhala - Coordinator of the AccessIBSA project

Dainius Puras - Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

Iveta Radicova - Prime Minister of Slovakia (2010-2012)¹

José Manuel Ramos-Horta - President of Timor Leste (2007-2012)¹

J.V.R. Prasada Rao - Special Envoy to the Secretary General of the UN on AIDS (2012-2017) and Health Secretary of the Government of India (2002-2004)

Geeta Rao Gupta - Executive Director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women and Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation

Oscar Ribas - Prime Minister of Andorra (1982-84; 1990-94)¹²

Mary Robinson - President of Ireland (1990-1997), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chair of the Elders

Dani Rodrik - President-Elect of the International Economic Association, Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard University

Petre Roman - Prime Minister of Romania (1989-1991)¹

Juan Manuel Santos - President of Colombia (2010-2018), 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Member of the Elders and Conservation International Arnhold Distinguished Fellow

Kailash Satyarthi - Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2014) and Child Rights Activist

Ismail Serageldin - Co-Chair Nizami Ganjavi International Center, Senior VP of the World Bank (1992-2000)²

Fatiha Serour - Africa Group for Justice & Accountability

Michel Sidibé - Minister of Health and Social Affairs of Mali

Mari Simonen - Former Assistant Secretary General of the UN and Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA

Pierre Somse - Minister of Health and Population of Central Africa Republic

Vera Songwe - Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Michael Spence - Nobel Laureate for Economic Sciences (2001), William R. Berkley Professor in Economics & Business, NYU

Joseph E. Stiglitz - a Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University

Eka Tkeshelashvili - Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia (2010-2012)²

Aminata Touré - Prime Minister of Senegal (2013-2014)¹

Danilo Türk - President of Slovenia (2007-2012)¹

Cassam Uteem - President of Mauritius (1992-2002)¹

Marianna V. Vardinoyannis - Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO²

Ann Veneman - Executive Director of UNICEF (2005-2010)

Chema Vera - Executive Director (Interim) of Oxfam International

Melanne Verveer - United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues (2009-2013), Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University

Vaira Vike-Freiberga - President of Latvia (1999-2007), Co-Chair Nizami Ganjavi International Center

Filip Vujanovic - President of Montenegro (2003-2018)²

Margot Wallström - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2014-2019)

Richard Wilkinson - Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology, University of Nottingham Medical School

Jelta Wong - Minister for Health and HIV/AIDS, Papua New Guinea*

Kateryna Yushchenko - First Lady of Ukraine (2005-2010)²

Viktor Yushchenko - President of Ukraine (2005-2010)²

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero - President of the Government of Spain (2004-2011)¹

Valdis Zatlers - President of Latvia (2007-2011)²

Ernesto Zedillo - President of Mexico (1994-2000)¹

Gabriel Zucman - Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley

 

¹ Member of WLA Club de Madrid
² Member of Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC)

* Signatory to the letter after 14 May, and before the 18 May World Health Assembly