Newsletter Edition #150 [Treaty Talks]
Readers,
In today's edition, we bring you an analysis on biosecurity in the context of the current negotiations on the Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing System, which is being discussed at the World Health Organization in Geneva. Countries meet next week for what could be the final round of negotiations.
My colleague Nishant Sirohi has worked on this for our readers, in time for the talks in Geneva. He charts the global governance on Pathogen Access, Benefit-Sharing and Biosecurity, by comparing the deliberations at the WHO, with the Biological Weapons Regime. (You can also download a table on this below). He also has specific suggestions for negotiators on beefing up biosecurity provisions in global health.
Sirohi is an India-based lawyer, and has worked with me for the last four years.
I am delighted to present this 150th edition of the Treaty Talks. Since April 2020, we have published more than 500 long-form analyses, and specifically 150 editions focused solely on global health negotiations at the WHO. (See our books on these here.)
Geneva Health Files offers value to our readers who are experts in global health. Tracking global health policy-making in Geneva is tough and expensive, without institutional support. For six years, we have provided you with the information and tools that directly contribute to your work in the field. We rely on our readers who value news they can use.
By becoming a paying subscriber you make our work possible. Our subscribers contribute towards greater accountability in global health.
Also, we moved home last month. If you are a paying reader, but have trouble accessing our analyses due to hiccups in the technology, just drop me an email. We apologize for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience. Do you like the new platform? Give us your feedback. It was a ton of work!
More soon.
Priti
Priti Patnaik, Founder & Publisher, Geneva Health Files
Feel free to write to us: genevahealthfiles@gmail.com ; Find us on BlueSky, Instagram and Linkedin.
Presenting our weekly in-depth analysis on global health that captures the big picture and the nuances like no one else does. This is an exclusive edition for our subscribers.
Pathogen Sharing and Biosecurity: Bridging Global Health and the Biological Weapons Regime
By Nishant Sirohi
Priti Patnaik & Julia Dötzer contributed to the production of this story
As the negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) Annex to the Pandemic Agreement enter their final rounds, they have moved beyond from broad principles to one aspiring for an operational architecture, reigniting the debate over the uneasy intersection between biosafety, biosecurity, and public health equity. At the core of this discussion lies a crucial tension, and a challenge for policy design: How can we ensure the rapid and equitable sharing of pathogen samples and genetic data without inadvertently enabling their misuse?