Context:
After 13 rounds of negotiations over three-and-a-half years, the WHO’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body finalized the draft WHO Pandemic Agreement on April 16, 2025. The draft will be presented for formal adoption at the upcoming World Health Assembly in May 2025.
Scope and Significance:
- While less ambitious than the original proposal, the agreement is hailed as a “generational accord to make the world safer.”
- It marks a significant consensus amid divergent interests between developed nations and the Global South.
Equity in Pathogen Sharing and Benefits:
- A major breakthrough was the agreement on a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system:
- Developing nations will share pathogen samples and genome sequences.
- In return, they are guaranteed equitable access to diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines developed from those materials.
Commitment to Health Workers and Technology Transfer:
- The first article all countries agreed upon was improved protection for healthcare workers.
- Technology transfer will occur under “mutually agreed terms” rather than the voluntary basis preferred by pharmaceutical companies.
Role of Pharmaceutical Companies:
- Pharma firms will:
- Donate 10% of their production to WHO.
- Sell another 10% at affordable prices to low- and middle-income countries.
- This is a direct response to vaccine hoarding witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Historical and Political Context
- Echoes past tensions like Indonesia’s protest over H5N1 sample sharing in the 2000s.
- Developed countries were reluctant to commit to tech-sharing; developing countries sought guarantees for access in return for pathogen data.
Treaty’s Strategic Focus Areas (as per Nature):
- Equitable access to health products.
- Encouraging technology and know-how exchange.
- Supporting self-sufficiency in vaccine production for developing countries.
TH
