Bill Gates hopes Rome health summit's declaration to lay groundwork for COVID-19 preparedness

Washington [US], May 21 (ANI/Sputnik): Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates on Friday expressed his hope that the joint Rome Declaration, which is expected to be adopted at the G20 Global Health Summit, will provide principles of response to health crises, including pandemic preparedness.
The summit, co-hosted by Italy and the European Commission, is currently taking place in Rome. Heads of international and regional organizations, representatives of global health institutions and G20 leaders were invited to discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and to endorse the Rome Declaration of principles, aiming to ensure equal access to vaccines and expand medicines manufacturing capacity, among other goals.
"I hope the Rome Declaration that will be agreed today, will provide a set of principles and actions to support pandemic preparedness, which will guide future discussions in the World Health Assembly and the G7 and G20 leaders' summits later this year," Gates addressed the Global Health Summit via video link.
Over 3.4 million people have died across the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while 165.5 million have survived the virus since it was first discovered in China in December 2019. (ANI/Sputnik)