Robin MILLARD
Wed, 17 April 2024
The National Covid Memorial Wall in London is dedicated to those who lost their lives to Covid-19 (Justin TALLIS)
The new draft of the global pandemic agreement has been released to countries ahead of Thursday's deadline, with a more streamlined take on how the world should handle future pandemics.
Rattled by Covid-19, which shredded economies, crippled health systems and killed millions, countries have spent two years trying to craft an international accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The ninth and supposedly final round of talks among the World Health Organization's 194 member states, held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, ended on March 28 without a deal.
The bureau of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body conducting the talks therefore went away to reflect on the major sticking points and come up with a new, tighter draft, honing in on areas of common ground.
The new draft retains some provisions on equity -- which developing countries have been holding out for -- but kicks some aspects further down the road to 2026.
- What happened in March? -
Keen to prevent the trauma of Covid-19 ever happening again, countries started negotiating an accord two years ago.
But at the final two-week talks session, the text ballooned from 29 pages to more than 100 as countries inserted proposed amendments. Agreement between the main blocs seemed far off.
Western nations broadly want ramped-up surveillance and rapid sharing of all data and samples on emerging pathogens.
Meanwhile one bloc of countries that includes India, Mexico and Bangladesh, calling itself the Group for Equity, plus another group of African countries, is trying to ensure developing nations are not cut adrift again when it comes to accessing vaccines, tests and treatments.
- What comes next? -
Countries will now digest the new draft and return to the WHO headquarters for further talks, from April 29 until May 10.
They are up against the clock, with the aim being to adopt a final agreement at the annual assembly of WHO member states, which runs from May 27 to June 1.
- What's in the new draft? -
The new WHO Pandemic Agreement draft seen by AFP now runs to 23 pages.
It would commit countries to a more equitable geographical distribution and scaling up of the global production of pandemic-related health products.
The text also reflects efforts to battle the swirl of disinformation and conspiracy theories that have surrounded the negotiations, including allegations that WHO could take over countries' health policies.
The new draft retains a paragraph specifically saying the agreement cannot be interpreted as giving the WHO or its leader any authority to alter national laws, "impose vaccine mandates... or implement lockdowns".
- And on the key section? -
The main arguments revolve around the section titled access and benefit sharing.
The draft agreement calls for a WHO Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS).
Under the PABS system, the sharing of material for public health risk assessment is placed "on an equal footing" with "timely, effective, predictable and equitable access to pandemic-related health products" arising from that sharing.
The system would include the "fair, equitable and timely sharing of benefits" arising from PABS material and information, which countries must share in a "rapid, systematic and timely" way.
During a pandemic this would include "real-time access by WHO to 20 percent (10 percent as a donation, and 10 percent at affordable prices to WHO) of the production of safe, efficacious and effective pandemic-related health products".
But it now says the modalities, operational dimensions, and terms and conditions of the system "shall be further defined in a legally-binding instrument, that is operational no later than May 31, 2026".
By shunting the arguments over deeper details another two years down the road, this new move could improve the chances of an agreement being approved and adopted at the World Health Assembly in six weeks' time.
rjm/nl/rox
AMANDA SEITZ
Updated Tue, April 16, 2024
President Joe Biden listens as he meets with Iraq's Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Washington.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020.
U.S. government officials will offer support in the countries, most of them located in Africa and Asia, to develop better testing, surveillance, communication and preparedness for such outbreaks in those countries.
The strategy will help “prevent, detect and effectively respond to biological threats wherever they emerge,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday.
The Global Health Security Strategy, the president said, aims to protect people worldwide and "will make the United States stronger, safer, and healthier than ever before at this critical moment.”
The announcement about the strategy comes as countries have struggled to meet a worldwide accord on responses to future pandemics. Four years after the coronavirus pandemic, prospects of a pandemic treaty signed by all 194 of the World Health Organization’s members are flailing.
Talks for the treaty are ongoing, with a final text expected to be agreed upon next month in Geneva. It’s meant to be a legally binding treaty that obliges countries to monitor pandemic threats and share scientific findings. But major disputes have emerged over vaccine equity and transferring the technology used to make vaccines.
Even if a deal is hammered out, there would be few consequences for countries that choose not to abide by the treaty.
The U.S. will push on with its global health strategy to prevent future pandemics, regardless of a pandemic treaty or not, a senior administration official told reporters on Monday.
Several U.S. government agencies — including the State Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID — will help countries refine their infectious disease response.
Health systems around the globe have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 and other health emergencies such as Ebola, malaria and mpox, the CDC said in a statement. The new strategy will help countries rebuild their agencies, the U.S. agency explained.
“Global health security is national security, and CDC is proud to contribute its expertise, investments and rapid response to protect the health and safety of the American people and the world,” Mandy Cohen, the CDC's director, said in a statement.
Congo is one country where work has already begun. The U.S. government is helping Congo with its response to an mpox virus outbreak, including with immunizations. Mpox, a virus that's in the same family as the one that causes smallpox, creates painful skin lesions. The World Health Organization declared mpox a global emergency in 2022, and there have been more than 91,000 cases spanning across 100 countries to date.
The White House on Tuesday released a website with the names of the countries that are participating in the program. Biden officials are seeking to get 100 countries signed onto the program by the end of the year.
The U.S. has devoted billions of dollars, including money raised from private donations, to the effort. Biden, a Democrat, is asking for $1.2 billion for global health safety efforts in his yearly budget proposal to Congress.
—
Associated Press writer Maria Cheng in London contributed.
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