Representatives from Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, and Thailand are to make up the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on a future pandemic instrument, according to Knowledge Ecology International. 

The countries each represent a different region of the WHO, namely Africa (South Africa),  the Americas, known as the Pan-American Health Organisation (Brazil), the South-East Asian Region (Thailand), Europe (Netherlands), the Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt) and the Western Pacific (Japan).

South Africa confirmed that it had been chosen to represent Africa at the INB at last week’s WHO executive board meeting, while the European Union announced that it would be represented by an official from the Netherlands.

Last year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) Special Session resolved to start intergovernmental negotiations “to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response”.

According to the WHA resolution, the first INB meeting shall be held no later than 1 March to “elect two co-chairs, reflecting a balance of developed and developing countries, and four vice-chairs, one from each of the six WHO regions” as well as “define and agree on its working methods and timelines”.

The resolution also directs the INB to “first identify the substantive elements of the instrument and to then begin the development of a working draft to be presented, on the basis of progress achieved, for the consideration of the INB at its second meeting, to be held no later than 1 August 2022”.

The INB has until the 77th WHA next year to present a draft of the instrument, but needs to present a progress report to this year’s WHA.