Hi,
Is it political or technical? This question rears its head in global health negotiations every once in a while. It is probably pointless to rid political underpinnings in any aspect of global health.
WHO member states have started work on the negotiations on the Pathogen Access Benefits Sharing (PABS) System - an the annex of the newly adopted Pandemic Agreement.
Recall that the eventual coming into force of the Pandemic Agreement hinges on the successful conclusion of the negotiation of this “sub-instrument”. The PABS is a crucial lever for equity for many countries around the table.
Naturally, the stakes are high.
Read our report today for a detailed update on where things stand and what to expect in the coming weeks.
I apologize for the delay in bringing this to you. I was temple-hopping 11th century architectural marvels in Southern India last month – so this took longer than expected. I am now fully back in business, also because schools in this part of the world have now reopened after the summer break!
If you find our work valuable, become a paying subscriber. Tracking global health policy-making in Geneva is tough and expensive. Help us in raising important questions, and in keeping an ear to the ground. helps us meet our costs.
Gratitude to our subscribers who help us contribute to greater accountability in global health.
Until later!
Priti
Feel free to write to us: genevahealthfiles@gmail.com
Find us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/genevahealthfiles.bsky.social
I. ANALYSIS
Stage Set for the Techno-Political Negotiations on the WHO Pathogen Access Benefits Sharing (PABS) System, Countries Contest the Role of Experts
By Priti Patnaik & Nishant Sirohi
In July 2025, countries broke ground and laid the foundations for the negotiations on the Pathogen Access Benefits Sharing (PABS) System.
At the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group set up to negotiate the PABS mechanism (and for other preparatory work) for the newly adopted Pandemic Agreement, countries agreed on timelines, ways of working and discussed the road ahead. The plan is to conclude the negotiations on the PABS annex to the Pandemic Agreement by May 2026. The IGWG is expected to provide an update on its work to the World Health Assembly next year.
Even at these incipient stages, the flashpoints for potential disagreement were obvious in the first meeting that was webcast. So, while this reflects the fragile status of multilateralism in global health (the momentum from reaching consensus on the Pandemic Agreement in May notwithstanding), it marked a clear shift, and the beginning of the next phase of this process as countries get deep into the technical and political questions of the PABS negotiations.
In this story we analyse not only the proceedings of the initial round of talks on PABS, and what they reveal, but we also supplement this with numerous interviews with negotiators, and others involved in the process.
We also highlight the significance of addressing the governance of digital sequence information within the WHO scheme of things, in these negotiations.
