AN extra week of negotiations to complete an international agreement on handling future pandemics kicked off in Geneva on Monday, with sharp divisions holding up an accord.
Wealthy countries and developing nations are at loggerheads in the talks at the World Health Organization over how the pan- demic treaty, adopted last year, will work in practice.
The agreement’s Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system deals with sharing access to pathogens with pandemic potential, then sharing benefits derived from them such as vaccines, tests and treatments.
“The world cannot afford to lose this opportunity and risk being unprepared for the next pandem – ic,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the start of the talks.
“It will not be perfect; no agreement ever is. But it can be fair; it can be functional,” he told negotiators.
In May 2025, WHO members adopted a landmark agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of COVID-19.
The accord aims to prevent a repeat of the disjointed international response that surrounded the coronavirus crisis, by improving global coordination, surveillance and access to vaccines.
PABS, the heart of the treaty, was left out to get the bulk of the deal over the line.
“Developing countries are voicing their mistrust, fearing they will share their viruses without any guarantees of equitable access to vaccines in the event of a crisis,” WHO chief scientist Sylvie Briand told AFP.
AFP
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