FM: Belarus ready to share experience in fight against pandemic

The current COVID-19 pandemic has revealed serious shortcomings in national healthcare systems and uncovered the gaps in social protection of the population, including in ensuring their right to life – as stated by Belarus’ Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik at the UN General Assembly High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York

As noted by Mr. Aleinik, the role of a strong state has become a decisive factor in the fight against the pandemic, and the tactics chosen by the leadership of Belarus to combat the spread of coronavirus infection turned out to be effective: no lockdown was introduced in the country, and its borders were not closed. As a result, the vital activity of the state was preserved.

“All internal resources were reoriented to meet the needs of the healthcare system. A sufficient number of beds in hospitals made it possible to save many Belarusians,” the Foreign Minister said. “The republic has managed to preserve its strong sanitary and epidemiological service based on the decades-long legacy of the school in the field of infectious diseases.”

Mr. Aleinik informed that Belarus has developed its own vaccine against coronavirus infection, and it is ready to share its experience in building a system of sanitary and epidemiological services and other areas of healthcare. “We are open to co-operation with all states without exception. We have already begun to build this co-operation with a number of countries of the global South. We invite foreigners to study at Belarus’ medical universities, and these people will further be able to either work in Belarus or to use the acquired knowledge in their countries and contribute to strengthening co-operation in the field of medicine.”

The Foreign Minister added that Belarus supports the work of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the development of a framework convention on the prevention of pandemics, ensuring preparedness for them and taking response measures. “We are sure that it is impossible to achieve sustainable health in the world for everyone, if there are constraining external factors in development at least for someone. Such negative factors include illegal unilateral coercive measures,” he said, noting that – by using the latter as a political pressure against other sovereign states – the initiator countries forget about the indiscriminate nature of their actions. The consequences of peacekeeping operations as the practice of overcompliance become the most sensitive in the field of healthcare when providing access to medicines and medical diagnostics.

“In this regard, Belarus calls for abandoning the vicious practice of applying unilateral coercive measures as a relic of the colonial past,” Mr. Aleinik stressed.

According to the Foreign Minister, Belarus assigns a special place to the World Health Organisation as a co-ordinator of multilateral efforts to protect and promote the health of the world's population. “Our country will continue to contribute to strengthening the global healthcare architecture,” he stated.