As governments gather in Geneva for the second Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) session on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex next week, the stakes are high. These negotiations will determine whether Member States have the resolve to take meaningful steps to correct the unacceptable inequities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic-by placing the collective interest above narrow self-interest and industry greed.
Member States now face a compressed timeline to agree on the Annex text before the next World Health Assembly. This requires immediate clarity on core elements of the system and early attention to the most difficult questions, including the scope of the Annex, the definition of pathogens with pandemic potential, and the framework of the benefit-sharing obligations.
Equity cannot be reduced to percentages of donated or discounted products. Negotiations must also secure the transfer of know-how and technology to enable regional manufacturing of outbreak-related public-health goods, and commit the technical and financial resources needed to build sustainable capacity in every region.
In advance of these negotiations, we also highlight:
- The PABS system should cover a broad range of pathogens, including those capable of causing Public Health Emergencies of International Concern.
- Provisions regarding the allocation of benefits in the PABS system must be clearly defined in advance, including the process and criteria for determining "public health risk and need," and the role of WHO and other relevant international organizations.
- "Public-health risk" should bebased on epidemiological risk-consisting of data on likelihood of transmission, morbidity, and mortality-without political bias; this includes equitable regional distribution of benefits aligned with such risk.
- Key decision-making power must rest with the Conference of the Parties (COP) or a yet-to-be-created COP subsidiary, not WHO
- Contracts between WHO and Participating Manufacturers should be transparent, made public, and contain sufficient assurances of enforceability.
- Steps to implement accountability frameworks for the Agreement and PABS should begin now, concurrent with negotiations-not after the first COP meeting. Civil society and other non-state actors must be meaningfully engaged in oversight to ensure transparency, legitimacy, and accountability
The coming weeks will reveal whether governments are willing to turn commitments into action. An equitable, enforceable, and accountable PABS Annex would represent a decisive step toward a more just and resilient global health system. Failure to deliver would not only disregard the lessons of COVID-19 but also leave the world divided and dangerously exposed when the next pandemic emerges.
The AHF Global Public Health Institute and partners have been following and analyzing the pandemic agreement negotiations, providing our best-judgment recommendations, and will continue to do so until their conclusion.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 2.5 million clients in 50 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.
About the AHF Institute
At the AHF Institute, we develop and advocate for evidence-based policy change to create a more equitable and effective global health architecture. With a focus on infectious diseases and health systems, our work addresses critical gaps in global health security, equity, governance, law, and finance. The AHF Global Public Health Institute is part of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
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Contacts:
U.S. MEDIA CONTACT:
Gui Ferrari Faviero, Esq., MS, MPH
Director
AHF Global Public Health Institute at the University of Miami
AHF
Guilherme.Faviero@ahf.org
Denys Nazarov
Director of Global Policy
Communications, AHF
+1.323.308.1829
denys.nazarov@ahf.org
