GENEVA, Switzerland – After over three years of intensive negotiations, World Health Organisation (WHO) Member States took a major step forward in efforts to make the world safer from pandemics by forging a draft pandemic agreement for consideration at the upcoming World Health Assembly in May 2025.
Y News has established that the proposal affirms the sovereignty of countries to address public health matters within their borders and provides that nothing in the draft agreement shall be interpreted as providing WHO any authority to direct, order, alter, or prescribe national laws or policies or mandate states to take specific actions, such as banning or accepting travellers, imposing vaccination mandates or therapeutic or diagnostic measures, or implementing lockdowns.
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was established by WHO Member States in December 2021, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement, or other international instrument under the WHO Constitution to improve pandemic preparedness, response, and prevention.
Early this week, INB finalised a proposal for the WHO Pandemic Agreement after 13 official rounds of discussions, nine of which were prolonged, and several informal and intersessional negotiations on different areas of the draft agreement. The seventy-eighth World Health Assembly will now be given the INB’s work’s results for their consideration.
“The nations of the world made history in Geneva today,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
What does the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body advocate for
In reaching consensus on the Pandemic Agreement, Tedros indicated that not only did the WHO Member States put in place a generational accord to make the world safer, but they have also demonstrated that multilateralism is alive and well.
“And that in our divided world, nations can still work together to find common ground and a shared response to shared threats. I thank WHO’s member states and their negotiating teams for their foresight, commitment, and tireless work. We look forward to the World Health Assembly’s consideration of the agreement and—we hope—its adoption,” added Tedros.
Y News understands that the INB’s text calls for the creation of a pathogen access and benefit sharing system, the implementation of tangible pandemic prevention measures, such as the One Health approach, the development of geographically diverse research and development capacities, the facilitation of technology transfer and the transfer of related knowledge, skills, and expertise for the production of pandemic-related health products, the mobilisation of a multidisciplinary, skilled, and trained national and international health emergency workforce, the establishment of a coordinating financial mechanism, the implementation of tangible measures to improve preparedness, readiness, and the resilience of health system functions, and the establishment of a global supply chain and logistics network.
Nothing in the draft agreement should be interpreted as giving WHO the power to direct, order, alter, or prescribe national laws or policies or to require States to take specific actions, like prohibiting or accepting travellers, enforcing vaccination requirements, implementing lockdowns, or imposing therapeutic or diagnostic measures. The proposal affirms the sovereignty of nations to address public health issues within their borders.
Co-Chairs Ms. Precious Matsoso (South Africa) and Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou (France), as well as Vice-Chairs Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes (Brazil), Ambassador Amr Ramadan (Egypt), Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien (Thailand), and Ms. Fleur Davies (Australia), were honoured by Dr. Tedros for their contributions to the INB process. Former Vice-Chairs Ambassador Honsei Kozo (Japan), Mr. Kazuho Taguchi (Japan), and Mr. Ahmed Soliman (Egypt) were among the previous members, as was former Co-Chair Mr. Roland Driece (the Netherlands). The Director-General also thanked colleagues in the WHO Secretariat for their unwavering support.
INB Co-Chair Ms. Matsoso stated, “I am thrilled that nations from all over the world have united behind a plan to improve equity and, in turn, shield future generations from the pain and losses we endured during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
How people would be protected from the next pandemic after COVID-19
The talks have occasionally been challenging and drawn out. However, this enormous endeavour has been maintained by the common knowledge that viruses know no boundaries, that no one is safe from pandemics until everyone is safe, and that we firmly believe in and wish to enhance collective health security.
Fellow INB Co-Chair Ambassador Amprou said the draft agreement is a major step in strengthening the global health security architecture so people of the world would be better protected from the next pandemic.
“In drafting this historic agreement, the countries of the world have demonstrated their shared commitment to preventing and protecting everyone, everywhere, from future pandemic threats,” Ambassador Amprou said. “While the commitment to prevention through the One Health approach is a major step forward in protecting populations, the response will be faster, more effective, and more equitable. This is a historic agreement for health security, equity, and international solidarity.”
Y News knows that at a special session of the World Health Assembly in December 2021, the INB was created, bringing together Member States and pertinent parties from the corporate sector, civil society, and international organisations. Governments pledged to finish negotiations on a worldwide pandemic accord within a year at the World Health Assembly in June 2024.
Under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, the next Assembly, which begins on May 19, 2025, will review the INB’s recommendation and make a final decision on whether to approve the instrument.
