Amended WHO International Health Regulations for better global pandemic governance?

Recent amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopted at the 77th World Health Assembly in May 2024, represent an important conceptual development in the field of global pandemic governance. The regulations now include the notion of a pandemic emergency, a heightened subcategory of the public health emergency of international concern, which necessitates rapid, equitable, and enhanced coordinated international action to counteract global pandemics. In addition, changes to the guiding principles expressly require that the implementation process ‘shall promote equity and solidarity’. This is further crystallised in concrete commitments to enable equitable access to health products and provide for the mobilisation of financial resources for developing countries. Taking lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, these changes make the IHR a more effective tool against global pandemics and represent significant steps towards achieving global health justice.