WHO Member States have concluded intensive negotiations aimed at strengthening global capacity to respond to future pandemics and outbreaks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, agreeing to submit the results of their work for consideration at the next World Health Assembly, which begins on Monday.
Two parallel negotiation processes were conducted to create a series of amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) and to draft the first-ever pandemic agreement, treaty, or other legal instrument.
Delegates to the 77th World Health Assembly, taking place from 27 May to 1 June, will consider the outcomes of both processes and their next steps.
“Over the past two years, WHO Member States have put in enormous efforts to rise to the challenge posed by COVID-19 and respond to the losses it has caused, including the loss of at least seven million lives,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “COVID-19 has affected everyone in different ways, which is why Member States have begun the process of developing a pandemic agreement to help the world prepare for the next pandemic. While great progress has been made in these negotiations, there are still challenges to overcome. We must use the World Health Assembly to reinvigorate ourselves and finish the task at hand of presenting the world with a pandemic agreement for a generation.”
The country today announced that nineNumber A meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), made up of WHO’s 194 member states, which reached initial agreement on several elements of a draft agreement and consensus on other points, with some areas of disagreement and divergence.
The INB Secretariat, which has been leading this process, will submit a report outlining more than two years of work on this process and the resulting draft text that has been negotiated to date. Options for next steps to complete the agreement process will also be considered at the WHA.
Roland Dries, Secretariat Co-Chair of the Netherlands, said WHO Member States remain committed to completing the pandemic agreement process and looked forward to the World Health Assembly reviewing progress on this groundbreaking effort.
“There is clear agreement among governments that the world must forge a new approach to fighting the pandemic,” Dries said. “The next steps in this important process will be led in the coming days by the World Health Assembly.”
Fellow co-chair Precious Matsotho of South Africa added that work remains to be done to build an equitable intergenerational agreement to prepare for, prevent and respond to pandemics. “The world cannot lose focus from the task at hand: to better protect it from the next pandemic. This requires sustained engagement and action from all stakeholders to build a global collective defence.”
The Working Group on IHR Revision (WGIHR) will also submit its findings to the WHA for consideration, including any provisions on which it has reached agreement in principle and any updated proposals by the WGIHR Secretariat for consideration by Member States.
First adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1969 and last revised in 2005, the IHR were designed to maximize collective efforts to manage public health events while minimizing disruptions to travel and trade. There are 196 States Parties to the IHR, including all 194 WHO Member States, Liechtenstein, and the Holy See. These States Parties have led the IHR revision process through the Working Group on Revision of the International Health Regulations (2005) (WGIHR). Today marked the conclusion of the resumed session of the WGIHR’s eighth meeting.