Future-proofing pandemic preparedness and response

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted main shortcomings within the capacity of the world to stop, put together for, and reply to pandemics. These shortcomings spanned a number of areas, together with the surveillance of pathogens of pandemic potential, the effectiveness of Worldwide Well being Laws (IHR), and disparities within the provide of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

These points have led to efforts to reform the governance, regulation and worldwide financing regimes for public well being emergencies and pandemics.

Negotiations referring to the CA+ and the IHR amendments are working concurrently and are on account of be concluded by the World Well being Meeting in Might 2024. There are inevitably overlaps and inconsistencies in scope and content material between the 2 devices. Moreover, there are questions referring to what subject material belongs in every of the 2 devices, and an absence of readability amongst negotiators as negotiating positions in key contentious areas.

In early 2023, we commissioned a comparative evaluation, session, and analysis train to make clear points referring to the inclusion of particular factors in a single or different instrument, to determine areas of concern and alternatives for consensus. From 3 Might 2023 to five October 2023, a variety of specialists and nation negotiators have been interviewed on their key priorities, considerations and what they believed ought to be within the IHR versus the Pandemic Accord. These inputs have been contextualized with desk evaluate, together with scholarship on the character of various authorized devices.

This evaluation highlighted that treaties and conventions are designed to be:

• Political alerts of precedence.
• Facilitators of multilateral cooperation the place home regulation and different coverage (together with different worldwide devices) have failed.
• Relevant to points the place common adherence will take time to attain.

Laws, alternatively, pertain to:

• Technical and regulatory issues, and issues associated to implementation on a specific challenge.
• Nomenclatures on technical phrases.
• Requirements (for instance on security and purity of prescription drugs)

As well as, the evaluation dissects nation positions on 9 key areas, together with One Well being, Pathogen Entry and Profit Sharing, and Frequent however Differentiated Tasks.