Divergences Continue on the Approaches to Reform the Governance of Health Emergencies [WGPR Update]; WTO Members See No Urgency on Convening Meeting for TRIPS Waiver

Newsletter Edition #118 [The Friday Deep Dives]

Hi,

The new year is off to a blazing start. These first few days of 2022 have already revealed the direction this year could take.

Geneva is in its element. From sharp divergences on the ways to reform the governance of health emergencies at WHO, to not finding common ground on an emergency meeting to discuss the TRIPS waiver at the WTO, countries continue to be ensnared in an overall lack of consensus on key matters. This policy logjam continues in the middle of a wave of new infections in this pandemic.

Write to us with your thoughts and feedback, on what we must report on in 2022. We will consider it and incorporate it into our editorial priorities.

I apologize for the delay in sending this edition. I was in transit! (Taking an intercontinental flight literally felt like being chased by Omicron. Traveling inside a pandemic has been surreal. Avoid it.)

Until next Friday!

Best.

Priti

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

---

I. STORY OF THE WEEK

Divergences Continue on the Approaches to Reform the Governance of Health Emergencies

If the WGPR meeting was any indication, the coming year will witness a decisive fight between competing interests on safeguarding equity in global health.

This week countries tried to agree on a work plan for the next few months that will see the building blocks for new rules on governing health emergencies put into place. Therefore much is at stake on how to design this process and the resulting negotiations across different forums on a range of issues including incorporating meaningful equity considerations, the strengthening of the International Health Regulations, among others. This in essence is what was discussed at the Sixth Working Group on Strengthening WHO Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies.

While there has not been any substantial change in countries’ positions on these issues, the way these discussions are being conducted and will be structured will ultimately impact the outcome on these crucial rules that could shape the international response to the next pandemic.

These discussions will likely dominate much of the global health agenda in 2022 even as the world continues to reel under the debilitating impact of COVID-19, now in its third year. WHO member states have to arrive at a consensus on the way forward that could see a combination of approaches to arrive at new rules to govern health emergencies, including discussions for a new international instrument, strengthening or amending existing rules and overall efforts to increase support for WHO.

Photo by Mudassir Ali from Pexels

At the meeting of the WGPR this week WHO member states came together to draft an interim report that will be submitted to the EB.  When this story went to print the report was yet to be finalised by the Bureau. A silence procedure will come into force as per procedure. But there was yet to be consensus on key issues including on language around equity, pathogens-sharing, the access to benefits and the amendments to the IHRs. Some Geneva-based delegates expected the silence procedure to be broken if there was no agreement on the text and this would mean that the report to the EB could reflect the lack of consensus.  

(A version [third version] of the report dated 10th January is now being finalised by the Bureau. Geneva Health Files has seen this version and has based this story on it.)