The pandemic agreement will not be adopted at a special World Health Assembly (WHA) next month as countries still need “more time” to conclude the complex talks. Co-chairs of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou and Precious Matsoso broke this news at a media briefing on Monday evening. The […] Continue reading ->
The pandemic agreement talks resumed on Monday for two weeks, but parties only have a week to decide whether they have sufficient common ground to call a special World Health Assembly (WHA) in December to adopt the document. Procedurally, 12 November is the last day by which a December WHA can be called. Negotiators will […] Continue reading ->
While the next pathogen with pandemic potential may be lurking in a faraway creature, human behaviour will drive it to become a pandemic, according to the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), which issued its first comprehensive pandemic risk report on Monday. The four riskiest human behaviours involve our global mobility, agricultural and farming practices, mis- […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK CITY – Brazil is advancing two major health-related declarations – on climate and One Health and on local medicines production – that it hopes to have ready for the upcoming G20 Summit that it is hosting in Rio in November. Despite political pushback, Brazil’s Deputy Minister of Health expressed hopes that the two […] Continue reading ->
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will sign an official memorandum of understanding with its Japanese counterpart next month, the director of Europe’s largest public health agency announced Wednesday. “Next month I will sign a cooperation agreement with the Japanese Center for Disease Control,” said Pamela Rendi-Wagner, who took over the agency […] Continue reading ->
Not enough progress was made at the 11th round of the World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic agreement negotiations, conceded Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the global body’s Director-General on Friday. “I know you have made progress, but I also know that from what you have been saying, it’s not as good as what we wanted,” Tedros […] Continue reading ->
The latest draft of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement shifts key decisions to the Conference of the Parties (COP) – a body that will be set up after the World Health Assembly (WHA) has adopted the agreement. The draft, developed by the WHO Bureau overseeing the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) talks, was distributed […] Continue reading ->
The mpox outbreak – characterised by the all-too-familiar lack of vaccines for Africa – provided added impetus to the global negotiations for a pandemic agreement, which resumed at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva on Monday. Ethiopia, speaking for Africa, said that mpox, recently declared a public health emergency of international concern, “calls […] Continue reading ->
As climate change drives disease outbreaks, the world remains ill-prepared for another pandemic – lacking in collaborative surveillance, diagnostic tools and finance, speakers told the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit (GPPS) in Brazil. The two-day summit, attended by a global who’s who of pandemic experts, aimed to “reinvigorate the momentum for pandemic preparedness and response” – […] Continue reading ->
As delegates at this week’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) worked to nail down a day-by-day agenda for negotiating a pandemic agreement for the next few months, it appears increasingly unlikely that the talks will be concluded by year-end. The detailed work plan – an indication that the Bureau has heard criticism that it has given […] Continue reading ->