With the tremendous toll and trauma that the pandemic inflicted worldwide still fresh, global readiness for future pandemic threats remains a top concern. Countries around the world are deep into negotiating two intergovernmental legal agreements to improve global preparedness and response to health emergencies. One process is being led by Member States through the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft and negotiate a new pandemic accord. Another negotiation process, also led by Member States, will update the International Health Regulations (IHR), which were first agreed by participating countries in 1969 and last revised in 2005.
These two negotiations are now well underway, and their outcomes have the potential to significantly strengthen the rules-based international system for how countries respond to and work together to manage health emergencies. Member States anticipate that the final outcomes of these processes, which will not be determined until the World Health Assembly in 2024 at the earliest, will enable the world to respond more rapidly, effectively, and equitably to the next health crisis. Through negotiations this year, Member States will strive to balance high ambition with political feasibility on tricky issues like enhancing equitable access to countermeasures like vaccines and treatments. Member States’ policy positions are predictably far apart on issues such as intellectual property and technology transfer. Progress reports from the INB and the IHR processes will be presented at this Assembly, and there will be plenty of unofficial discussions on this topic on the way to 2024.
The World Health Assembly will also review WHO’s work on a range of other health emergencies, given that the organization is responding to 56 graded health emergencies. These include nine acute emergencies, such as the cholera outbreak affecting countries across Africa and the Middle East, the aftermath of the February 6 Türkiye-Syria earthquake, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Because 70% of disease outbreaks that WHO responds to take place in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings, WHO leadership will update Member States about its Global Health for Peace Initiative. The Assembly will consider a draft strategy for the initiative, which focuses on addressing drivers of critical health needs in crisis settings and reinforcing the role of health as a core element of peace and sustainable development.
