PUTRAJAYA, Oct 27 — Malaysia’s stance on the Pandemic Treaty of the World Health Organisation Convention Agreement (WHO CA+) and the amendment of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) is clear, which is to protect the interests of public health and the country’s sovereignty, says Health director-general Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan.

Dr Muhammad Radzi said the WHO CA+ and IHR 2005 negotiation process was not limited to public health, as it also covered other related fields such as trade, environment, geopolitics and socio-economics.

Therefore, he said the Ministry of Health (MOH) as the coordinator of the two negotiations had held engagement sessions with various relevant ministries and government agencies including the Attorney General’s Chambers to ensure that Malaysia’s sovereignty and laws were preserved and that the interests of Malaysians were protected and prioritised.

In a statement today, he said Malaysia’s participation in the negotiations reflected the country’s commitment to strengthening global health security and future epidemic prevention.

"Malaysia’s basic principles, including sovereignty and autonomy, justice and solidarity, equality, the need to build a sustainable health care system as well as public awareness and transparency are the basis of every negotiation,” he said, adding that those principles had also received support from other WHO member countries.

According to Dr Muhammad Radzi, the final decision will only be issued once all member countries reached a consensus in the negotiations.

He said negotiations so far involving delegations from WHO member countries including Malaysia were done in a systematic and comprehensive manner which provided an opportunity for each country to voice their views and stances. — Bernama