WHO extends pandemic treaty talks one year

WHO member states have decided to keep negotiating the last unfinished part of the agency’s pandemic agreement rather than force a deal at this year’s World Health Assembly in Geneva. The dispute centers on a pathogen-sharing and benefit-sharing system meant to govern how countries provide samples and sequence data, and what they receive in return. The extension leaves the broader agreement in place but delays the step needed for countries to move ahead with signature and ratification. The decision came as WHO and allied experts warned that trust, financing and preparedness have weakened since COVID-19, even as the assembly also highlighted a public-health success from Kenya. ### What exactly did countries postpone in Geneva? WHO said member states agreed on May 1 to seek more time to finish the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, or PABS, annex of the WHO Pandemic Agreement. That annex is the final unresolved piece of the accord adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2025. The WHO said the assembly would be asked to let the Intergovernmental Working Group continue its work and submit an outcome to the next assembly in May 2027, or earlier at a special World Health Assembly session in 2026. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “real progress was made” but that outstanding differences still needed to be overcome. (who.int) ### Why is the PABS annex holding up the process? The PABS system is supposed to set the terms for rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and for fair, equitable sharing of benefits derived from them, including vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, according to WHO. That makes it one of the most sensitive parts of the accord because it links early access to biological material with later access to medical countermeasures. (who.int) WHO said finalizing the annex is necessary before countries can proceed with signature and ratification of the pandemic agreement. Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes of Brazil, a co-chair of the negotiating bureau, said the text involved legal and technical complexity and that states were “not there yet.” (who.int) ### What was the pandemic agreement supposed to do? The World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement by consensus on May 20, 2025, after more than three years of negotiations launched in response to COVID-19. WHO said the accord sets principles, approaches and tools for stronger international coordination on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. (who.int) The 2025 resolution also contemplated follow-on work on the PABS system, which was left to a separate negotiating process. WHO and PAHO said the agreement was designed in part to improve equitable and timely access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in future crises. ### Why is this debate landing at a tense moment for global health? (paho.org) A May 2026 report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, backed by WHO, said the world is becoming more vulnerable to future pandemics because international cooperation is weakening, funding is shrinking and inequities in access to vaccines and treatments persist. The report said WHO detected nearly twice as many health emergency events in 2024 as in 2015. (paho.org) Tedros said in the WHO release on the PABS talks that the next pandemic is “a matter of when, not if,” and urged countries to approach the remaining issues with urgency. The warning has coincided with broader concern inside WHO this year about funding cuts and strained health systems. ### What did Kenya’s recognition show at the same assembly? (business-standard.com) Kenya received WHO recognition at the 79th World Health Assembly after the agency acknowledged the elimination of human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, as a public health problem. Kenya’s health ministry said Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale accepted the certificate in Geneva on May 19. (who.int) WHO had validated Kenya’s elimination of the disease in August 2025, saying it was the 10th country to reach that milestone and that no indigenous new cases had been reported for more than 10 years. The last autochthonous case was detected in 2009, WHO said. ### What happens next in the treaty process? (health.go.ke) The Intergovernmental Working Group will hold its seventh meeting from July 6 to July 17, 2026, WHO said. Any finished PABS annex could then be sent either to a special World Health Assembly session later in 2026 or to the next regular assembly in May 2027. (who.int 1) (who.int 2)