Negotiations on a global agreement against the pandemic will begin in February 2023

Negotiations on a draft global agreement to better combat the next pandemic will begin at the end of February 2023, the WHO announced on Wednesday.

The 194 member states of the World Health Organization, meeting in Geneva for three days, agreed to “develop the first draft of a legally binding agreement designed to protect the world against future pandemics,” underlines a press release.

“This ‘conceptual draft’ of the pandemic agreement, anchored in the WHO Constitution, will be discussed by the Member States” on February 27, 2023, specifies the Organization.

The announcement comes a few days after the third anniversary of the appearance of Covid-19 in China, before it spread throughout the world causing the worst pandemic in a century. It caused millions of deaths, cost trillions of dollars, and exposed inequalities in access to care and medicines. And she is still angry.

Goal: a binding text in the spring of 2024

The Bureau of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, which is made up of a delegate from each of the six WHO regions, will be in charge of preparing the text or “zero draft” that will serve as the basis for the negotiations of the Member States.

The process to find an agreement to combat the pandemic was launched at the end of 2021 unanimously by the members of the WHO. The plan is to adopt a legally binding text in the spring of 2024.

“The decision to entrust us with the task of developing a draft agreement on the pandemic represents a big step towards a safer world,” said Roland Driece, one of the members of the Bureau of the international negotiating body.

“Zero Draft”

His colleague Precious Matsoso said for her part that “government officials stressed that any future pandemic agreement must consider equity, strengthen preparedness, ensure solidarity, promote an all-of-society and all-of-government approach, and respect the sovereignty of countries.

“There are many things that need to change before we validate it. It’s the same for many member states, probably most,” US chief negotiator Pamela Hamamoto told reporters, referring to the “zero draft.”

Peter Sands, who heads the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, judges for his part that “the existence of a beautiful treaty (…) will only have a partial impact on the effectiveness of our response.