Hi,

This year has been characterized by how geopolitics has interfaced with global health.

Our edition today, is a preliminary update on the ongoing negotiations over WHO’s Pathogen Access & Benefits Sharing system. It also builds on the developments over the last few weeks particularly with respect to American overtures with contracts that promise aid in lieu of access to information circumscribed by tough conditionalities.

We are onsite tracking these negotiations and are speaking with experts, officials and diplomats. We will follow up with more updates on how the substantive discussions progress this week.

Thank you for reading.

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More soon!

Best,

Priti

Feel free to write to us: patnaik.reporting@gmail.com or Follow us on Twitter: @filesgeneva

I. IGWG PABS UPDATE

Developing Countries Push for Negotiations on Contracts Underpinning PABS system

By Priti Patnaik

Nishant Sirohi contributed to this story

WHO member states stepped back into the formal negotiations on the Pathogen Access & Benefit Sharing System in Geneva this week at the fourth meeting on the Intergovernmental Working Group, one would say somewhat gingerly, given that the negotiating field has perceptibly altered in the last few weeks.

Recall that the news of American bilateral efforts to offer aid in exchange for access to pathogen information, erupted during the previous rounds of negotiations in November 2025. It was akin to setting a cat among the pigeons. The subsequent weeks were dominated by developments tracking how American officials were courting countries across Africa.