WHO, 37 countries launch alliance to share tools to battle Covid-19 | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025
WHO, 37 countries launch alliance to share tools to battle Covid-19

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
30 May, 2020, 01:05 pm
Last modified: 30 May, 2020, 02:29 pm

Related News

  • One dies from COVID-19 in 24 hrs
  • Covid-19: Two more deaths, 7 new cases reported in 24hrs
  • Covid-19: One more death, 10 new cases reported in 24hrs
  • Three die from Covid-19 in 24 hrs
  • Five Covid-19 deaths reported in 24 hours, 36 new cases detected

WHO, 37 countries launch alliance to share tools to battle Covid-19

“Vaccines, tests, diagnostics, treatments and other key tools in the coronavirus response must be made universally available as global public goods”

Reuters
30 May, 2020, 01:05 pm
Last modified: 30 May, 2020, 02:29 pm
The WHO issued a "Solidarity Call to Action", asking other stakeholders to join the voluntary push/NDTV
The WHO issued a "Solidarity Call to Action", asking other stakeholders to join the voluntary push/NDTV

Thirty-seven countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed on Friday for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic, taking aim at patent laws they fear could become a barrier to sharing crucial supplies.

While the push by mostly developing nations, called the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, won praise from groups including Doctors Without Borders, a drug industry alliance questioned if the effort to pool intellectual property would really broaden access to medicines.

Developing and some small nations fear rich countries pumping resources into finding vaccines - more than 100 are in development - will muscle their way to the front of the queue, once a candidate succeeds.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"Vaccines, tests, diagnostics, treatments and other key tools in the coronavirus response must be made universally available as global public goods," said Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado.

The effort, originally proposed in March, aims to provide a one-stop shop for scientific knowledge, data and intellectual property amid a pandemic that has infected more than 5.8 million people and killed more than 360,000.

The WHO issued a "Solidarity Call to Action", asking other stakeholders to join the voluntary push.

"WHO recognises the important role that patents play in fuelling innovation but this is a time when people must take priority," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online news briefing.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations raised concerns about undermining intellectual property protections, which the group said already enable collaboration and will also be needed after the pandemic is over.

"The 'Solidarity Call to Action' promotes a one-size-fits all model that disregards the specific circumstances of each situation, each product and each country," the federation said.

Anna Marriott, health policy manager for anti-poverty group Oxfam, said the divide over how to handle patents illustrated how some regions could wind up losers.

"The pharmaceutical industry's attempt to rubbish the World Health Organisation's initiative suggests they care more for profits than people's health," she said.

Top News

WHO / 37 countries / alliance / COVID-19

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • No need to worry as US tariff talks ongoing: Fouzul tells biz leaders
    No need to worry as US tariff talks ongoing: Fouzul tells biz leaders
  • Representational image. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    Explainer: Why SSC pass rate hit a 17-year low
  • Council of Advisers' meeting on Thursday (10 July). Photo: CA Press Wing
    Govt cancels 'Sir' address directive from Hasina's rule

MOST VIEWED

  • Graphics: TBS
    BB raises startup fund limit, drops upper age barrier
  • Workers pack undergarments at the packing section of a garment factory in Ashulia, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fatima Tuj Johora
    After US tariffs, jobs hang by a thread in Bangladesh's garments sector
  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • File photo of containers at Chattogram port/TBS
    US buyers push Bangladeshi exporters to share extra tariff costs
  • Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
    Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
  • Students sit for SSC exam at Motijheel Girls' High School on 10 April 2025. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    SSC exam results out: Here's how you can check online and via SMS

Related News

  • One dies from COVID-19 in 24 hrs
  • Covid-19: Two more deaths, 7 new cases reported in 24hrs
  • Covid-19: One more death, 10 new cases reported in 24hrs
  • Three die from Covid-19 in 24 hrs
  • Five Covid-19 deaths reported in 24 hours, 36 new cases detected

Features

Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

3h | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

6h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

6h | Panorama
Women are forced to fish in saline waters every day, risking their health to provide for their families. Photo: TBS

How Mongla’s women are bearing the brunt of rising salinity

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

2h | TBS World
OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

1h | TBS World
Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

2h | TBS Today
July Declaration must be constitutionally recognized: Akhtar Hossain

July Declaration must be constitutionally recognized: Akhtar Hossain

2h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net