WHO pandemic accord push

World Health Organization member states are back at the table April 27 to May 1 in Geneva to finish the annex that could determine whether the WHO Pandemic Agreement can move ahead. (who.int) The missing piece is called Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, or PABS. It is the rulebook for how countries share dangerous virus samples and genetic sequence data, and how benefits from that research are shared back. (who.int 1) (who.int 2) WHO says the system is supposed to put those two steps on equal footing: rapid sharing of pathogens, and rapid, fair sharing of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics made from them. (who.int 1) (who.int 2) That balance is the core fight. During the March session, negotiators were still arguing over how benefits should be defined and distributed, what contracts should govern the system, and what oversight rules would make it work. (who.int) The stakes are procedural as well as political. The World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement on May 20, 2025, but the text says it cannot open for signature until the Article 12 annex is adopted too. (who.int) In other words, countries already agreed on the main treaty last year, but they still need the pathogen-sharing annex before governments can start signing and ratifying the full package. (who.int 1) (who.int 2) The current round is a resumed sixth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group, the body the Health Assembly set up to draft the annex and send it to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in 2026. (who.int) (who.int) An interim report from the March 23-28 session says the group suspended its work and asked the bureau to run informal hybrid meetings before the April 27 restart, with a focus on unresolved text in key sections, including contracts. (who.int) WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in March that the PABS system “lies at the heart” of the agreement. The two co-chairs, Brazil’s Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes and Britain’s Matthew Harpur, said negotiators were still trying to bridge remaining differences before the May assembly. (who.int) If delegates leave Geneva with agreed text, the annex can go to the World Health Assembly in May. If they do not, the treaty adopted after the COVID-19 pandemic will remain unfinished where its most contested equity mechanism begins. (who.int) (who.int)