World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged member states to conclude negotiations on a key annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement, warning that delays leave the world vulnerable to future disease outbreaks.
Opening the seventh meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), Tedros said negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex had not been completed in time for adoption at this year’s World Health Assembly but stressed that the priority was to finish the process.
“We had all hoped that negotiations on the PABS annex would be complete in time for adoption at this year’s World Health Assembly. That didn’t happen. But that’s not what matters now,” he said.
The PABS annex is designed to establish a system for the rapid sharing of pathogen samples and genetic sequence data while ensuring that countries providing those materials receive fair and equitable access to benefits, including vaccines, diagnostics and treatments developed from them.
Tedros said delegates’s continued participation demonstrated that multilateral cooperation remained possible despite geopolitical tensions.
“Your presence here today tells the world something important: that despite everything, multilateralism is alive. You are proving that cooperation, dialogue and compromise are still possible,” he said.
He acknowledged that significant differences remained among member states but said they were not impossible to overcome, urging negotiators to build on recent informal discussions and reach consensus during the two-week meeting.
“I won’t pretend the final stretch will be easy. The differences that remain are real, but they are not impossible to bridge,” he said.
Tedros warned that the world could not afford further delays in strengthening its pandemic preparedness.
“The next pandemic will not wait for us to be ready,” he said.
He pointed to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo as a reminder that infectious disease threats persist and cited the recent containment of a hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship as an example of how rapid international cooperation can prevent wider transmission.
“The Ebola outbreak is proof that the threat never truly goes away. Every month that this annex remains unfinished is a month the world stays less prepared than it could be,” he noted.
Tedros urged delegates to use the meeting to bridge remaining differences, saying the negotiations were ultimately about protecting lives rather than advancing institutional processes.
“So please, let’s get this done, not for an institution, not for a process, but for the people whose lives depend on it,” he said.
The seventh IGWG meeting is expected to continue for two weeks as WHO member states seek agreement on the PABS annex, one of the remaining elements needed to complete the WHO Pandemic Agreement aimed at strengthening global preparedness for future pandemics.
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