Some 194 countries are currently negotiating the world’s first pandemic accord. Born out of our lessons in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have agreed that we need effective mechanisms and measures in place to be able to better prevent, prepare for and respond to the next big threat.
In addition, there are ongoing negotiations on amendments to the International Health Regulations, 2005 (IHR) to ensure they are fit for purpose during a pandemic.
The countries of the world negotiating in the two processes include every country in Southeast Asia.
In our region of the world, we know both how devastating pandemics and other major public health events can be and how to build resilience in our health systems and societies and the tools and mechanisms necessary to respond. Such experiences will prove to be invaluable in the development of the pandemic accord.
Asia was the source of the first reported cases of Covid-19 and of Sars. It also has had long experience in preventing and responding to outbreaks of diseases such as the Nipah virus, dengue fever and malaria.
We are a region that has the muscle memory to know how to deal with outbreak threats. We already have significant skills and capacities in the areas of prevention, preparedness and response.
Countries in the Mekong Delta responded rapidly and effectively to Covid-19. India has built one of the world’s largest vaccine-manufacturing infrastructures. South Korea showed great determination in its response to the pandemic.
As a region, Asean also responded swiftly in addressing the growing crisis, including through the establishment of a Covid-19 Response Fund to boost emergency stockpiles for future outbreaks. The regional grouping is finalising the establishment of an Asean Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases (ACPHEED). Lessons from the region can shape the contents of the pandemic accord and the amended IHR.
But we cannot rest here. The world needs to do more. We saw the inequities of vaccine distribution during Covid-19, with many countries in the Global South not having sufficient supplies or their own vaccine production capacity being forced to the back of the queue. Sharing pandemic pathogens and genome sequences contribute to risk assessment, prompt introduction of containment measures and R&D for pandemic response products. The world would also benefit from greater collaboration and financing for pandemics and other health emergency responses.
We are doing more. If the pandemic accord is agreed, it would improve the world’s unity of response, the equity with which that response is carried out, and the speed and efficacy of preparedness and response measures.
Member states of the World Health Organization have already held five negotiating sessions for the pandemic accord and are preparing for their sixth, which is due to resume next Monday in Geneva.
The drafting group for this accord hopes to arrive at a first draft, which can then be presented to all 194 countries for negotiation.
The meeting will be followed by negotiations for the amendment of the IHR starting on 24 July. This would be the fourth meeting of the WHO Working Group on the IHR amendments.
This is important — the fact that all 194 countries will be involved in negotiating and influencing their content. Only sovereign governments can decide what they want to be included in the accord, and it will be only governments that ratify the eventual accord, which member states have recommended takes place in May 2024 during the next World Health Assembly.
However, it is also important to note that the two processes are inclusive in nature and engage all relevant stakeholders.
The pandemic accord and the IHR amendments represent a generational opportunity to protect future generations from the threat of pandemics. It is so important that we heed the lessons learned from Covid-19 to make quantum improvements in the way the world prevents, prepares for and responds to pandemic threats. Join us, please, in supporting your government in agreeing on the best-possible pandemic instruments for us all, with operational equity at the core; we all stand to benefit.
Dr Viroj Tangcharoensathien is the Senior Advisor on Global Health to Permanent Secretary Office, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. Grata Endah Werdaningtyas is the Deputy Permanent Representative to the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the UN, WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. She also serves as the representative of the WHO South-East Asia Region to the Bureau of the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005).
