Member States Advance Support for WHO Pandemic Agreement

WHO Member States held their second intergovernmental meeting from September 15 to 19 to further develop the Pathogens Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system, which is a crucial component of the WHO Pandemic Agreement.

The PABS system aims to facilitate safe, transparent, and accountable access to and sharing of pathogen materials and sequence information. It also seeks to promote equitable, rapid, and timely distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other associated benefits.

As part of its adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025, the World Health Assembly established the open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) to undertake several tasks, including the priority task of drafting and negotiating the PABS annex to the Agreement.

The Assembly decided that the results of the IGWG’s work would be presented to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in 2026 for evaluation.

"Countries have taken the next step in building the platform needed for making the world better prepared and safer in the event of future pandemics," said Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes of Brazil, co-Chairperson of the IGWG Bureau guiding the negotiations. "There is a strong common understanding on critical issues needed to develop a mechanism for Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing. Negotiators from around the world have made strong progress in shaping this central pillar of the WHO Pandemic Agreement."

Ambassador da Silva Nunes stated that the first draft of the PABS annex is anticipated to be drafted and negotiated in November and December 2025.

During the IGWG meeting, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus congratulated countries for their efforts to amend the International Health Regulations, which officially took effect on September 19, 2025. He noted that this achievement, along with the historic adoption of the Pandemic Agreement, provided the necessary momentum to develop the PABS annex.

"The amendments to the International Health Regulations and the adoption of the Pandemic Agreement by the World Health Assembly this year were truly generational accomplishments," said Dr. Tedros. "Countries now have the opportunity and responsibility to bring the Pandemic Agreement to fruition by finalizing the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, as mandated by the World Health Assembly."

In addition to negotiating the PABS annex, the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) was established to undertake preparatory work for the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.