A race against time. The 194 countries that are negotiating an agreement for the prevention and fight against future pandemics have been trying since Monday, April 30, to overcome their differences and reach a text that avoids repeating the mistakes of the Covid-19 crisis.
Member countries, returning to the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, have less than two weeks to complete two years of intense efforts: a binding text that should allow them to be prepared when the next health catastrophe hits the world, to the poorest countries. insisting on the importance of “equity”
In fact, the main disputes revolve around equity in access to new pathogens, access to vaccines and other medicines developed from these discoveries, their equitable distribution and the sharing of the means to produce them.
A last chance
Unable to find an essential consensus and faced with a text that was illegible due to amendments, the negotiators decided to make a last attempt and are working on a new draft text diluted with some of the most controversial points, which they will discuss later.
This is going according to plan. “The majority of Member States have indicated that with this new text we are on the right path, but at the same time there are still many things to resolve,” explains the co-chair of the negotiations, Roland Driece.
“The process takes a long time and time is our greatest enemy,” stressed the Dutch diplomat.
The goal of the negotiations, which continue until May 10, is to reach a text ready for adoption by the annual assembly of WHO member states, which begins on May 27. But the memory of the millions of deaths, suffering, injustices and immense economic damage of the Covid-19 pandemic is fading and the sense of urgency is evaporating.
The new draft focuses on areas of agreement in an attempt to find the necessary consensus and reserves some of the most sensitive points for future discussions over the next two years.
Are progress expected this Tuesday?
A senior official explained that there was a positive spirit, but that it was a matter of translating it into “concrete actions.” Another stressed that progress was expected on Tuesday. For NGOs following the discussions at WHO headquarters, it is difficult to measure progress.
“We are witnessing two opposing narratives: for some we are on the verge of collapse, for others we see the light at the end of the tunnel,” explains Jaume Vidal, senior political advisor at Health Action International.
Together with the African Group, countries in an Equity Coalition are trying to ensure that developing countries are not left behind again in terms of access to vaccines, tests and treatments, as was the case during Covid.
African Union health ministers issued a statement on Monday committing to achieving “legal certainty for users and providers” of the Pathogen Access and Benefit-sharing System (PABS). They called for an international financing mechanism by developed countries with new, sustainable and substantial funds. Indonesia has been a key player in Equity Group.
Wiku Adisasmito, one of Indonesia’s chief negotiators in Geneva, said the two sides of PABS (rapid access to detected pathogens and sharing of resulting benefits, such as vaccines) must be on equal footing.
“This is essential, not only for Indonesia but for most developing countries,” he said.
Negotiators could be stimulated by news about the bird flu epidemic, which has been raging again since 2020. The H5N1 virus recently infected cow herds in the United States for the first time. Although no case of human-to-human transmission has yet been recorded, the intense circulation of H5N1 and its ability to jump from one species to another is worrying.
Source: BFM TV
