On 16 April, the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument under the Constitution of the World Health Organization to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, published its Proposal for the WHO Pandemic Agreement to be discussed at the resumed session of INB9. This Proposal is based on discussions and negotiations among WHO member states that have taken place over the last two years.
It has not been an easy two years. The spirit of solidarity that was fuelling the decision to start negotiating a Pandemic Agreement vanished quickly when proposals regarding product sharing, technology transfer, management of intellectual property (IP), access to know-how, transparency, and pathogen access and benefit sharing (PABS) were put on the table. These are all essential elements of greater equity in access to pandemic countermeasures.
We have been following several key elements of the equity agenda, in particular, the issues related to technology transfer and IP, including access to undisclosed information and know-how.