The World Health Organization is pushing for nations to sign a global pandemic treaty to improve the world's collective response to future pandemics.

The international agreement was one of the leading topics on the agenda on the first day of the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday. The event aims to highlight lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic to inform the fight against future outbreaks.

"We cannot kick this can down the road," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "If we do not make the changes that must be made, then who will? And if we do not make them now, then when? When the next pandemic comes knocking, and it will, we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively and equitably."

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The World Health Assembly brings together nations large and small to discuss the world's biggest health challenges. One of the former is the Maldives. Maldives Health Minister Ahmed Nassem says larger nations should bear more financial responsibility for global health problems.

He said: "They should. They should. Because, you see, if my neighbour is not well, then I will soon have the same problem. We have to take care of each other. This world is so globalised now and travel is so easy and we can carry diseases all over the world. 

"We have to share our issues. I think it should be a priority, a huge priority, because if we don't we won't be able to avoid pandemics."

‌Along with getting delegates to commit to previous spending promises, the WHO's main aim from this gathering is to agree on text for a global pandemic treaty that it hopes will be signed next year. Getting an agreement won't be easy, but the WHO's Director General says it's essential.

"We need it for enhanced international cooperation, the pandemic accord, a generational commitment that we will not go back to the old cycle of panic and neglect that left our world vulnerable, but move forward with a shared commitment to meet shared threats with a shared response. 

"That's why we say the pandemic is a generational agreement: a commitment from this generation is important because it's this generation that experienced how awful a small virus could be."

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