Pandemic Agreement Talks: The Final Toss - Access & Benefits Sharing Vs One Health? Health Financing Politics Come into Play as Africa Group Holds the Wild Card

Newsletter Edition #85 [Treaty Talks]

Hi,

In the final lap of the negotiations for a new Pandemic Agreement, a lot will depend on how united and determined the Africa Group will be. But the pressure is beginning to build.

For much of the last two years, Africa Group has been the engine in powering the equity agenda in these discussions. These countries have defined the expansive boundaries of this negotiation. As crunch time arrives, there are, of course pressures to shrink these aspirations.

In today’s story we bring you the state of play in these discussions.

Expect quick updates from us in the coming days as we bring you not only snapshots of how discussions are evolving, but as many insights as possible from those at the front-lines of this negotiation.

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Best,

Priti

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Illustration Credit: Amy Clarke, Chembe Collaborative

I. UPDATE: INB9 RESUMED SESSION

Pandemic Agreement Talks: The Final Toss - Access & Benefits Sharing Vs One Health? Health Financing Politics Come into Play as Africa Group Holds the Wild Card

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The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body set up to establish a new Pandemic Agreement resumed its discussions this week in a final lap aiming to conclude the negotiation, with numerous hurdles along the way to the finish line including process concerns, divergence on key issues and factors external to the World Health Organization.

Crunch time dawns in the hallways of WHO, where 194 countries are meeting to hash out a new legal instrument in a desperate face-saving exercise running against a vengeful clock. All-too-familiar fears of a H5N1 outbreak are snapping at the heels of governments, as they grapple with the big questions of a new health emergency architecture – from surveillance to financing, from Pathogen Access and Benefits-Sharing to One Health.

So here is the somewhat simplistic topline: the final toss for some countries will be about pushing for a PABS mechanism in lieu of agreeing to One Health provisions. Much will depend on the nature and seriousness of One Health obligations. But this is not a simple lever that developing countries can exercise. The buttons pushing a dedicated financing mechanism is under the thumb of a few developed countries. So, the promise of money will not come till developing countries also agree to One Health demands. And we are not even talking about tech transfer and intellectual property concerns yet.

You can well appreciate, how quickly these interlinked issues can descend into fog. And yet countries for now seem determined to make their way through these layers to arrive at consensus.

These discussions are tightly and continuously circumscribed by political and diplomatic influences behind-the-scenes.

The resumption of this week’s meeting was preceded by high drama in Addis Ababa, where African health ministers met at an event brokered by The Africa Centres for Disease Control. This was watched closely by everyone, including actors hoping to crack into the gaps in the African position on this negotiation.

In this story we bring you a snapshot of some of the emerging indications. We also discuss process matters that underpin the proceedings of the next two weeks.

Image Credit: Photo by Google DeepMind, Pexels