The World Health Organization has reacted to the latest remarks by #ElonMusk, accusing him on Thursday, 23 March, without naming him directly, of spreading #fakenews. The response came after the billionaire entrepreneur behind #Twitter called on countries “not to cede their power” to the Organization.
The World Health Organization issued the statement after billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, in a post on Twitter, urged countries “not to cede their power” to the Organization, in response to the draft agreement on pandemic preparedness and response.
“The claim that the agreement would grant powers to the WHO is simply incorrect. It is fake news,” said the Organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Musk, whose Twitter account has more than 132 million followers, was commenting on a video posted by far-right Australian senator Malcolm Roberts, in which he criticised the WHO.
WHO assurances
“Countries do not cede their sovereign rights to the WHO. The Pandemic Agreement will not change that. The agreement will help countries respond more effectively to pandemics. It will help us better protect people, whether they live in wealthy or low-income countries,” Ghebreyesus said in response.
The 194 WHO Member States make decisions on the Organization’s health policies and budget at their annual assemblies, where they are represented by their respective governments.
Ghebreyesus also stressed that “countries, and countries alone, will decide what the agreement says” and that “they will implement it in accordance with their own laws.”
The WHO hopes that negotiations on the new agreement could be completed by May 2024 and urged countries to “learn the lessons from this pandemic” so that the same mistakes are not repeated.
The new agreement was deemed necessary because the international community failed to adequately address COVID-19, with some countries - as well as the WHO itself - accused of responding too slowly and failing to show solidarity with one another.
With information from AMNA | AFP | Reuters
