The World Health Organization (WHO) unveiled a new strategic plan on Wednesday (March 30) that lays out a path toward ending the global emergency of COVID-19.
In its third strategic preparedness and response plan on COVID-19, the WHO acknowledged the pandemic remains an acute global crisis but charted a path to end the global emergency if key measures are implemented rapidly.
The organization outlined two key objectives: reducing SARS-CoV-2 infections and diagnosing and treating COVID-19 cases effectively to reduce deaths.
The WHO said that can be achieved by increased surveillance and monitoring, improving global COVID-19 vaccine equity, bolstering healthcare systems and supplies, as well as upgrading research and data analyses.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world now has “the tools to plan for and respond to every eventuality.”
“We now stand at a pivotal and dangerous moment in the fight against COVID-19. Although it is impossible to predict precisely how the SARS-CoV-2 virus will evolve, we know that new variants will arise as transmission continues and, in many cases, intensifies,” he wrote. “And yet we can look to the future with a sense of hope that we can end the COVID-19 pandemic as a global emergency through our actions.”