Mr. Hassan and his fellow Youth Councillors advise and actively have interaction with the WHO Director-Basic and the company’s senior management, designing and increasing the company’s programmes and methods.
In an interview with UN Information forward of the 2025 World Health Assembly – the UN’s highest discussion board for international well being – Mr. Hassan, who was born and raised in Texas, USA, explains why he began iCure, a worldwide non-profit organisation designed to make sure that all folks obtain entry to preventative medical screening, and the way the pandemic treaty may radically enhance take care of susceptible communities.
This interview has been edited for readability and brevity.
Rehman Hassan: 10 years in the past, my grandfather handed away from coronary heart illness. I noticed how he was handled in a different way due to the best way that he offered himself, as an immigrant and an individual of color. He was very educated, however he had restricted literacy, and he wasn’t essentially informed what all his choices had been. I felt that the docs tried to hurry him into surgical procedure and that they pressured him to be anaesthetized as a result of they believed he was transferring round an excessive amount of, when actually he was simply in ache and uncomfortable.
I’m satisfied that he didn’t get the care that he deserved and that basically resonated with me, as a result of I needed to guarantee that nobody else felt that manner. I noticed that, as an adolescent, my function may contain working at a group degree, mobilising different younger folks to advertise issues like good weight loss plan or train, and advocate for many who need assistance.
That’s how iCure began, and it has blossomed into a world motion. We now have hosted a youth fellowship programme with round 65 younger folks from all around the world, from Vietnam to Qatar to Puerto Rico, discussing the well being points they’re seeing and easy methods to handle them, as trusted members of their communities, to bridge the sorts of data gaps which are quite common in lots of marginalized communities, particularly amongst low revenue folks and immigrants.
UN Information: Inform me about your private expertise throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?
Rehman Hassan: The pandemic was, for many individuals internationally, a deeply tough, scary, intense course of. I used to be residing with my grandparents who had been immunocompromised, and I knew that they had been at vital danger. While we had a number of vaccines within the US, there was a number of pandemic disinformation and misinformation; presenting it as one thing that had a low mortality fee and that we may ignore.
As well as, we had a serious winter storm in Texas that froze the state for nearly two weeks. We didn’t have entry to electrical energy, gasoline or water. Our home was flooded and finally was destroyed. This mix of the local weather disaster and the pandemic meant that many individuals, particularly in my group, had been left behind and didn’t obtain the assets that they wanted.
Youngsters in Mexico acquired meals baskets throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (file, 2022)
UN Information: The WHO says that the pandemic preparedness treaty, if and when it’s adopted, will likely be a breakthrough for well being fairness and make an actual distinction on the bottom. Do you agree?
Rehman Hassan: I undoubtedly assume it’s a sport changer. I received concerned with the treaty course of via the WHO Youth Council, the place I characterize an organisation [ACT4FOOD, a global youth-led movement to transform food systems] that primarily focuses on entry to meals, the social determinants of well being and the way we are able to promote change on the group degree.
The textual content of the treaty spells out the efforts that have to be taken at a group degree, and every member state has an obligation to guarantee that probably the most susceptible get entry to assist or care, as a part of their pandemic response plans.
There’s a dedication to early detection: if we are able to detect pandemics early, then we are able to be sure that everybody has entry to the care and assets they want.
UN Information: It’s probably that there will likely be one other pandemic in our lifetimes. Will we handle it higher than the final one?
Rehman Hassan: We’re undoubtedly seeing an acceleration of pandemics and excessive occasions that finally undermine fairness.
I feel that the World Well being Meeting and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Physique for the pandemic treaty have finished an unbelievable job of understanding what went improper throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and former pandemics, after which how we are able to craft an instrument that can handle these inequities or forestall them from taking place within the first place.
If member states ship a significant treaty, I feel it could considerably enhance and facilitate a significantly better pandemic response than what we noticed throughout final time.
