WHO pact stalls over pathogen sharing

WHO member states are still negotiating the part of the agency’s pandemic agreement that governs how pathogens are shared and what countries receive in return. The unresolved section — the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing, or PABS, annex — is the final major piece needed before the agreement can open for signature and ratification, according to the World Health Organization. On May 1, the WHO said countries agreed to extend those talks after failing to finish the annex during a resumed session of the Intergovernmental Working Group. The delay comes as the WHO is managing an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described as worrying for its “scale and speed.” WHO said the outbreak has been designated a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, but not a “pandemic emergency” under the International Health Regulations. WHO said the risk is high at the national and regional levels and low globally. (who.int) ### What exactly is stuck in the WHO pact? The WHO pandemic agreement was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2025, but it was adopted without the detailed PABS system annex. WHO says that annex is supposed to set the rules for access to pathogens with pandemic potential and for the sharing of resulting benefits, including products and other support. Until that annex is adopted, the agreement cannot move to signature and ratification. (who.int) The IGWG was created specifically to draft and negotiate that annex. WHO says the group’s work will be submitted to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in 2026 for consideration. ### Why is pathogen sharing so contentious? Pathogen-sharing rules sit at the center of a long-running dispute over equity. (who.int) Countries that detect and share dangerous samples want clearer guarantees that they will get timely access to vaccines, treatments, diagnostics and other benefits developed from those samples, according to WHO’s description of the PABS annex process. (who.int) The May 1 WHO update did not declare the talks dead, but it said member states had agreed to extend negotiations, indicating they had not reached consensus on the annex during the resumed April 27-May 1 session. WHO said the bureau remained confident the group was moving toward a finalized text. (who.int) ### What is happening in the Ebola outbreak now? On May 17, WHO determined that Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a PHEIC. WHO said the outbreak does not meet the threshold for a pandemic emergency under the IHR. (who.int) NPR reported on May 20 that authorities had recorded more than 500 suspected cases and at least 134 suspected deaths. Tedros said he was concerned by the outbreak’s “scale and speed,” while WHO’s Africa office said the Democratic Republic of the Congo had reported 80 community deaths suspected to be due to Ebola in the current outbreak. (who.int) ### Why does this outbreak matter to the treaty talks? The Ebola outbreak does not legally determine the treaty negotiations, but it has put the practical issue behind the talks back into view: how quickly countries share samples and how equitably the world responds afterward. WHO’s pandemic agreement page says the PABS annex is the “next crucial step” after the agreement’s adoption. (northcountrypublicradio.org) The current outbreak also involves Bundibugyo virus, a rarer Ebola species for which NPR reported there are no approved medicines or vaccines. That has sharpened attention on preparedness gaps as governments continue to negotiate the rules for future pathogen access and benefit-sharing. (who.int) ### What happens next in the negotiations? WHO said on May 1 that the IGWG would hold its seventh meeting from July 6 to 17, 2026. WHO’s governance pages show the group has already held multiple rounds of meetings since July 2025, including a resumed sixth session from April 27 to May 1. (wlrn.org) Once the annex is adopted by the World Health Assembly, the full agreement can open for countries to sign and ratify under their own constitutional processes, WHO says. The agreement would enter into force 30 days after 60 countries ratify it. (who.int 1) (who.int 2)