The Access To Medical Countermeasures – The Lynchpin in the Reforms to the Governance of Health Emergencies

Newsletter Edition #20 [Treaty Talks]

Hi,

Some people do not like the use of the term “countermeasures” in global health given the tactical and technological meanings it holds. But it seems Geneva has embraced this term, so that is how we refer to it.

In today’s edition we try to go deeper into the many facets of what it means to make medical products accessible during health emergencies. We present to you, how countries and other stakeholders talking about it in the context of the current negotiations.

We do wish that some of the closed door discussions around these important issues are thrown open to the public. It is a great opportunity to educate the wider community on the many moving parts of these conversations. Let us in?

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Check out our upcoming workshops here! This week, Global Health Journalism and Newsletters.

Until later.

Best,

Priti

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

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I. STORY OF THE WEEK

The Access To Medical Countermeasures – The Lynchpin Of The Reforms To Health Emergencies Governance

As countries head deeper into the negotiations of the Pandemic Accord,  they are beginning to tackle the some of the most difficult lessons from COVID-19, namely the access to medical products, among a range of other competing priorities from matters on compliance, financing to prevention and preparedness measures. While discussions are getting technical and more specific, the suggestions on potential provisions from stakeholders, experts and countries themselves reveal a rich array of possibilities. WHO member states will convene for the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body in Geneva next week.

A number of dedicated intersessional meetings on specific articles of the Zero Draft of the Pandemic Accord, were conducted this month by the INB, set up to establish a pandemic accord. While these discussions were behind closed doors, Geneva Health Files, has been able to review some of the sessions, based on information shared by those present in these discussions.

The intersessional meetings delved into issues including predictable global supply chain and logistics network [Art.6]; One Health and the Quadripartite [Art.18]; Access to technology: promoting sustainable and equitably distributed production and transfer of technology and know-how [Art.7]; WHO Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing System [PABS], with the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework as an example [Art.10].

In this story we look in detail on the various facets to the access question in the pandemic accord discussions. We also bring you opinions from experts at the IP discussion held at the Informal Focused Consultations from October last year. [We will follow up on PABS in the coming weeks]

We try to capture the emerging narrative on some of the key issues on supply, production, intellectual property, tech transfer, licensing, among others. These matters are mostly articulated in Chapter III on equity, including Articles 6, 7 in the zero draft of the pandemic treaty.

(Also see ours earlier: Pandemic Accord Negotiations: Away from Public Glare, but Center of Attention; The Zero Draft of the Pandemic Accord: A Discursive Journey into Equity)

Image Credit: Photo by Anni Roenkae, Pexels