11 March marks the second anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. For over two years, COVID-19 has been shaking our societies – taking lives, destroying livelihoods, disrupting daily life, and dominating news headlines and political discussions in all countries. In this context, democracies have had the opportunity to gauge how they can best prepare for future emergencies and the subsequent recovery process with a democratic and equitable approach, but in two years, world leaders have not been able to agree and coordinate a global response to put an end to this crisis.
This one and a half hour long roundtable will provide a space for dialogue with representatives from the Government of Spain, health experts and civil society to discuss the most effective way of stopping this pandemic and equitably preventing future ones, while promoting the protection and strengthening of democratic resilience in the face of future emergencies, understood as a matter of shared responsibility among the different actors of every society.
Speakers
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia (2006-2018) and Club de Madrid Member
Jesús Marco, Vice-President of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Vanessa López, Co-founder and Executive Director, Salud por Derecho.
Antoni Plasència, Director General, ISGlobal (Barcelona Institute for Global Health)
