Member countries of the World Health Organization resumed negotiations on November 4, 2024, in an attempt to finalize an agreement on pandemic prevention, with outbreaks of mpox, Marburg or H5N1 stressing the urgency of reaching an agreement without repeating the deadly mistakes of Covid-19.
After more than two years of negotiations, there is good hope of reaching an agreement in the next 15 days, especially since the negotiators have agreed to postpone discussions on the most contentious points: the sharing of knowledge and equitable access to medical advances.
THE Recent negotiations at COP16 in Colombia on biodiversity providing for a comparable mechanism have stumbled on this point. You must balance the need to complete your work in a timely manner with the need to produce the strongest possible text. Don't let the best become the enemy of the good.", WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told national negotiators at the opening of the talks. Time is not on our side. Covid is still circulating. MPOX is a global health emergency. We have an epidemic of Marburg and a spread of H5N1. The next pandemic will not wait“.
Never again
In December 2021, fearing a repeat of the COVID-19 disaster that has killed millions, the WHO’s 194 member countries agreed to reach an agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The emergence of a new strain of mpox, the deadly Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda and the spread of H5N1 bird flu in recent months have clarified the issues. Diplomats have agreed on many of the draft’s 37 articles in 11 previous rounds of negotiations.
The main section on which consensus will need to be reached concerns access to pathogens for the scientific community and medical research, and then to pandemic-fighting products such as vaccines or other tests derived from this research. In order not to block everything, the idea is to postpone the discussion on the details of the pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system until later.
Battle for Equity
For the moment, there is an impasse between rich and poor countries, which have not forgotten that they were abandoned to their fate during the Covid-19 pandemic. If the world has failed on one issue, it is on the issue of fairness. " during the Covid-19 pandemic, the WHO boss stressed on Friday. " Africa was left behind at the time and this should not happen", stressed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, calling for example for producing the necessary means locally.
Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister, believes that " The South considers that the North protects its pharmaceutical industries" Then there's this "It leaves an incredibly bitter taste between the North and the South"The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations has called for an agreement" enabling the private sector to innovate" . " Intellectual property must be respected, and technology transfer must always be voluntary and on mutually agreed terms.", insisted the federation.
Among the country representatives, Malaysia, speaking on behalf of a group of developing countries known as the Equity Group, said that " Major improvements are still desperately needed in many areas"It demanded that at least 20% of the real-time production of vaccines, tests and treatments go to developing countries.
Tanzania, on behalf of 48 African countries, said it could not " accept an agreement not based on fairness"The Indonesian negotiator said that an agreement that only preserves the status quo is unacceptable, because " Empty promises won't save lives". China has insisted that " quality should not be sacrificed for time.” The German representative called for an acceleration of talks in order to “focus on what is achievable“.
English 
French