Member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) have advanced work on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex, a key component of the WHO Pandemic Agreement aimed at strengthening global preparedness and response.

In a statement on Friday, the organisation said members agreed more time was needed to finalise the framework to ensure a more effective, equitable global response to future pandemics worldwide.

It stated, “Countries on Friday ended the resumed session of the sixth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group in Geneva, focused on the PABS system, with outcomes to be presented to the Assembly.

“The outcome of this work will be presented to the 79th World Health Assembly later in May, while further negotiations are expected to continue to resolve outstanding issues within the framework.

“Given the need for further negotiations, the Assembly will be asked to consider continuing IGWG’s work as mandated and submit the outcome to the next Assembly in May 2027.”

The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said real progress was made on the annex, expressing confidence that continued negotiations would resolve differences and deliver a consensus framework for global health security.

“Member States should continue approaching the outstanding issues with urgency because the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if,” Mr Ghebreyesus said, emphasising importance of timely agreement.

“The PABS annex is the last piece of the puzzle not only for the agreement but all initiatives implemented following lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

He said the system would ensure rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and equitable access to benefits arising from their use, including vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics globally.

According to him, finalising the annex is essential to enable countries proceed with signing and ratifying the agreement, thereby strengthening collective preparedness against future global health emergencies.

The IGWG Bureau Co-Chair, Amb. Tovar Nunes of Brazil, said completing a document of such technical and legal complexity required precision and dedication, which nember states had consistently demonstrated.

“We are not there yet, but with an extension of our negotiations, we will get there,” Nunes said, expressing optimism about eventual consensus among participating countries.

The IGWG Co-Chair, Matthew Harpur, said member states had shown strong commitment to negotiating the annex, adding that progress indicated movement in the right direction toward finalisation of framework.

“The IGWG Bureau is confident we are moving in the right direction to finalise the annex and ensure countries are better and more equitably prepared for the next pandemic,” he said.

Mr Harpur said the working group would hold its seventh meeting from July 6 to 17, 2026, to continue negotiations and address unresolved technical and policy issues within framework.

He recalled that in May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO agreement to strengthen how countries prevented, prepared for and responded to pandemics through coordinated global action.

He said the assembly also established an open-ended intergovernmental working group tasked with drafting and negotiating the pathogen access and benefit sharing system as part of agreement.

(NAN)