The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body set up to establish a new Pandemic Agreement resumed its discussions this week in a final lap aiming to conclude the negotiation, with numerous hurdles along the way to the finish line including process concerns, divergence on key issues and factors external to the World Health Organization.
Crunch time dawns in the hallways of WHO, where 194 countries are meeting to hash out a new legal instrument in a desperate face-saving exercise running against a vengeful clock. All-too-familiar fears of a H5N1 outbreak are snapping at the heels of governments, as they grapple with the big questions of a new health emergency architecture – from surveillance to financing, from Pathogen Access and Benefits-Sharing to One Health.
So here is the somewhat simplistic topline: the final toss for some countries will be about pushing for a PABS mechanism in lieu of agreeing to One Health provisions. Much will depend on the nature and seriousness of One Health obligations. But this is not a simple lever that developing countries can exercise. The buttons pushing a dedicated financing mechanism is under the thumb of a few developed countries. So, the promise of money will not come till developing countries also agree to One Health demands. And we are not even talking about tech transfer and intellectual property concerns yet.