UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 26 — World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday called for the early conclusion of the negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system so that the WHO Pandemic Agreement can come into force.
Tedros made the appeal at a high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly General Debate.
“So today, I leave you with just one request — just one: get PABS done, as soon as possible. Please conclude the negotiation as soon as possible,” he said.
Further delays are not just delays in procedure or process. They are delays that cost all countries dearly when the next pandemic arrives, he said.
PABS will form an annex to the Pandemic Agreement. Once this annex is adopted by the World Health Assembly, the full Pandemic Agreement, adopted last year, will be open for countries to sign and ratify. The agreement will officially enter into force 30 days after 60 countries have ratified it.
Tedros said the adoption of the Pandemic Agreement was historic. “In a divided and divisive world, countries found common ground for a common purpose. You showed that multilateralism still works, and it’s alive and well.”
Tedros said that the Pandemic Agreement and the International Health Regulations do not infringe on national sovereignty in any way. On the contrary, they have been negotiated and adopted by sovereign states, as an act of their sovereignty. Because they recognize that pandemics do not respect borders and the best defense against them is not isolation, but cooperation.
“Although differences remain, I am confident that countries will find common ground, just as they did with the Agreement itself,” he said. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
