Discussions on pandemic agreement extended

GENEVA — Member states of the World Health Organization agreed on Saturday to extend talks over an agreement on pandemics for another year, allowing for more time to finalize the landmark treaty to combat pandemics and improve preparedness.

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, established in December 2021 to draft the agreement and guide the negotiation process, will continue its mandate to deliver the agreement by the next World Health Assembly next year or at a special session of the health assembly this year.

"There was a clear consensus among all member states on the need for a further instrument to help the world better fight a full-blown pandemic," the body's co-chair Precious Matsoso said.

This year's World Health Assembly also agreed on amendments to another international instrument, the International Health Regulations, introducing a definition of a pandemic emergency to ensure more effective international collaboration in response to a potential pandemic.

The amendments will bolster countries' ability to detect and respond to outbreaks and pandemics by strengthening their own national capacities and coordination between member states, on disease surveillance, information sharing and response, said the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Strengthening of the regulations "provides powerful momentum to complete the pandemic agreement, which, once finalized, can help to prevent a repeat of the devastation to health, societies and economies caused by COVID-19", he said.

The WHO said countries have defined a pandemic emergency as a communicable disease that has a "wide geographical spread" or a high risk of one, and has exceeded or can exceed the ability of national health systems to respond.

Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University in Washington, hailed what he called a big win for health security, and said the move "will simplify negotiations for the pandemic agreement".

Xinhua—Agencies