Accord reached 'in principle' over tackling future pandemics

GENEVA

World Health Organization (WHO) members on April 12 reached agreement over how to tackle future pandemics after three years of discussions, the co-chair of the negotiating body told AFP.

"We have an accord in principle" and the final version will have to be approved by the various member states, said Anne-Claire Amprou, the French ambassador for world health.

Delegates will meet tomorrow in Geneva to put the finishing touches to a landmark text on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and give it their definitive seal of agreement, Amprou added.

That text will require a final seal of approval from all WHO members at the World Health Assembly in Geneva at the end of May.

Several sources told AFP one of the main sticking points had been paragraph 11, which deals with technology transfer for production of health products related to pandemics, particularly to benefit developing countries.

The issue had been a bone of contention in poorer countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they say rich nations hoarded vaccine doses and tests.

Several countries where the pharmaceutical industry is a major economic player oppose the idea of mandatory transfers and have insisted on it being voluntary.

The United States was absent from the talks, Donald Trump having said on his return to the White House that his country would leave the WHO, which experts say will heighten risks to the global health risk surveillance system.

WHO members decided the agreement had to be drawn up in December 2021, two years after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, which killed millions across the globe and brought the world economy to its knees.