The World Health Assembly (WHA) concluded its seventy-seventh session with the adoption of a decisive package of amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) and set a concrete deadline to finalize a global Pandemic Agreement by 2025. These developments aim to fortify global health systems, ensuring robust preparedness and response to future outbreaks and pandemics.
Strengthening Global Health Preparedness
The seventy-seventh World Health Assembly, held in Geneva from 27 May to 1 June, was conducted under the theme “All for Health, Health for All.”
The amendments to the IHR, endorsed by all 194 member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO), mark a significant step towards enhancing global health security. The updated regulations introduce a definition of a pandemic emergency, establishing a higher level of international collaboration in response to events that threaten to become pandemics. A pandemic emergency is defined as a communicable disease with widespread geographical spread, overwhelming health systems, causing substantial social or economic disruption, and necessitating rapid, equitable, and coordinated international action.
Key components of the amendments include:
Pandemic Emergency Definition: This triggers more effective international collaboration and builds on existing IHR mechanisms, including the determination of a public health emergency of international concern.
Solidarity and Equity in Medical Products and Financing: Establishing a Coordinating Financial Mechanism to support developing countries in identifying and accessing necessary financing for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
States Parties Committee: This committee will promote and support cooperation among States Parties for effective IHR implementation.
National IHR Authorities: Created to improve coordination of IHR implementation within and among countries.
The WHO emphasized the collective commitment of member states to protect their populations and the global community from public health emergencies. WHO hopes that the amendments to the International Health Regulations will bolster countries’ ability to detect and respond to future outbreaks by strengthening their national capacities and coordination between states on disease surveillance, information sharing, and response.
Negotiations on the Pandemic Agreement
Alongside the IHR amendments, the WHA extended the mandate of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to finalize a Pandemic Agreement by the 2025 World Health Assembly, with the possibility of an earlier completion during a special session in 2024. This agreement aims to enhance international coordination, collaboration, and equity in preventing, preparing for, and responding to future pandemics. Experts are of the opinion that the amendments to the IHR would provide the necessary momentum to finalize the Pandemic Agreement, despite remaining challenges in the negotiation
Roadblocks to finalizing the Pandemic Agreement and Future Steps
While significant progress was made, the road to a finalized Pandemic Agreement remains fraught with challenges. Key issues include finance, access to medical products for developing countries, intellectual property rights, and ensuring equitable distribution of resources during pandemics. Some countries, particularly from Africa, urged for a quicker resolution to maintain momentum, while others, including the US and EU, called for more time to address these complex issues thoroughly.
Despite these challenges, the WHO remains optimistic. As the WHA concluded, global health leaders reiterated the importance of not waiting for the pandemic accord to accelerate pandemic preparedness at country and regional levels.
The WHA’s decisions underscore a collective commitment to strengthening global health systems and ensuring a coordinated response to future public health emergencies. The amendments to the IHR and the ongoing negotiations for a Pandemic Agreement represent significant steps towards a more resilient and equitable global health landscape.
About IHR
The IHR (2005), successors of the 1951 International Sanitary Regulations, are legally binding international instruments that define countries’ responsibilities in managing public health events with potential cross-border implications. They establish crucial reporting obligations, criteria for identifying public health emergencies of international concern, and address international travel and transport requirements.
About the Pandemic Treaty
The WHA launched the process to develop the world’s first pandemic accord in December 2021, aiming to prevent a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic’s global health, economic, and social impacts.
References:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1150546
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2022510
Photo Credits: Devex