Written by J.A. Watson, CNN
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Thursday a new initiative that aims to speed up the steps taken by its member countries when dealing with a pandemic.
The International Coordination Center for Pandemic Preparation (ICCP) will be headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and provide guidance for all 164 WHO member countries.
It aims to provide coordination, coordination and coordination for efforts to develop effective, early and preventive measures to tackle a pandemic.
The launch comes two months after a UN-sponsored summit was held in April with over 100 countries present.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said during the meeting “this will allow every single WHO member to understand what is the implementation of the plan we all signed up to here.”
While no pandemic has occurred in the past decade, WHO warns that global health risks continue to rise because of epidemics and health crises, such as pandemics, such as Ebola and Zika, and environmental diseases.
WHO’s new initiative could streamline the international response to any potential disaster that could affect millions of people, including immigrants and foreign dignitaries.
In one example, the large Cuban population in the United States could potentially face new health problems due to pressure to be vaccinated after Donald Trump’s immigration ban.
Speaking at a UN-sponsored event in April, Guterres stressed that strong cooperation between countries is important, adding that cooperation should be “equally multi-stakeholder, multi-national and particularly multi-cultural.”