Governing pandemics snapshot. Issue 4

Welcome to the fourth issue of the Governing Pandemics Snapshot. Following the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA)’s endorsement of a delay of up to one-year for finalizing a Pandemic Agreement, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is set to resume its work with a two-day session on 16-17 July 2024. INB member states will be facing two potentially contentious procedural issues, as well as thorny debates over the resolution of substantive matters including: a system for Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS); references to One Health; and a formula assuring more equitable access to pandemic health products, where wide gaps remain. Debate around these outstanding issues is a focus of this latest issue of the Governing Pandemics Snapshot. The issue, produced by the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, also unpacks the WHA-approved amendments to the International Health Regulations and their meaning.