Renewing the Gospel's call to heal the sick by supporting Anglicans working across the world in health care, whether in clinical settings or in the community

Introduction:  As the international negotiating board works towards drafting the Pandemic Accord, we are sharing the reflections of Sergio Rodrigo Montealegre Bueno (article and biography below). We’re also offering some resources for supporting ongoing advocacy efforts. Many of you will have experienced the hardships of inequity in the pandemic and seen their effects on those you work with and serve. Therefore, we want to see the Pandemic Accord champion effective partnership across multiple sectors which can make possible, at all levels of society, the sharing of technology, resource, intellectual property and benefits. We are especially keen to see the language on faith strengthened in the Accord (as argued in the recent WHO faith network statement). This is because to offer a unified response in a pandemic and to achieve genuine implementation of critical strategies, faith actors need to be adequately incorporated into planning and our voices to be heard in a variety of settings. If you have any further comment or want additional support in your advocacy work, please do get in touch on ahcn@anglicacommunion.org 

Should the Anglican Churches raise their voice in the face of pandemics?

Rev. Fr. Sergio R. Montealegre-Bueno, O.P.

As a result of the humanitarian crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) have been negotiating a Pandemic Treaty since February 2022, which is expected to be adopted during the General Health Assembly in May 2024.[1] Several faith-based organizations and leaders have signed an open letter urging WHO Member States to ensure that the final accord establishes real and egalitarian commitments to protect all people everywhere in the world from future pandemics.[2]

As a Dominican friar, Anglican priest, Public Health professional, and human rights activist, I was one of the hundreds of faith-based leaders who signed that letter, fully convinced that our prophetic mission as Church and religious leaders is to be present to respond when inequalities arise by analyzing the reality in the light of the signs of the times. Pandemics are widening the world gap because they strike low-income countries and, among these, the underprivileged ones.          

We are called to raise strong prophetic voices as churches of the Anglican Communion, capable of condemning the structural social sin that impoverishes and marginalizes the most disadvantaged in society. We are called to get involved in open, loving, and critical discussions in public and private arenas, evidencing the immorality of government and power groups who profit from human needs during most vital times like pandemics.    

As Anglicans, we must urge our governments to require the temporary suspension of medicines and vaccine patents during public health emergencies due to pandemics to guarantee equitable access to the overall population. We must demand that scientific advances benefit humanity equitably, especially those individuals with less economic capacity. We must become allies with groups and organizations advocating for these topics, adding our voices, and claiming justice.    

Finally, this 'pandemic call' may be an instrument to lead the actions of faith-based leaders and individuals of the Anglican Communion who have a presence in international instances to amplify the voices of the underprivileged during the pandemics.  

Biography of Revd Sergio Rodrigo Montealegre-Bueno O.P. Colombian nationalized Costa Rican. Business Administrator from the Universidad Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca, Colombia; Master in Public Health from the University of El Salvador; currently completing a degree in Theology at the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamérica, Costa Rica. Nearly 25 years of experience working on Sexual Rights, Diversity, and HIV. He has worked in different national and regional organizations in Latin America. INERELA+ International Chairman and REDCA+ advisor. Anglican Priest of the Anglican Diocese of Southeast Mexico and Friar of the Anglican Order of Preachers.

Online Resources

1) How to talk about vaccines and build vaccine confidence 

How to talk about vaccines and build vaccine confidence

Vaccines explained series

The Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and local communities has an extensive resource library and they have some interesting resources on vaccines

2) The Pandemic Accord negotiations and advocacy

On the Pandemic Accord: The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) of WHO Member States will be holding an additional meeting for the pandemic accord from Monday 29^th April to 10 May. 

The statement previously put forward by the WHO Faith Network members (drafted by Ben Walker) on 18^th March (link here), 

Others including Archbishop Thabo were signatories to an initiative led by Public Citizen.