FILE PHOTO:Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus (COVID-2019), in Geneva, Switzerland, February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

GENEVA: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will help launch a global initiative on Friday (Apr 24) to accelerate work on drugs, tests and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the world, the World Health Organization said.