How the World Health Organization could fight future pandemics

How the World Health Organization could fight future pandemics

Subject: International Relations

Section: International Organization

Context: Negotiations on new rules for dealing with pandemics are underway at the World Health Organization (WHO), with a target date of May 2024 for a legally binding agreement to be adopted by the U.N. health agency’s 194 member countries

‘Zero-draft’ of the pandemic treaty:

• The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) published a ‘zero-draft’ of the pandemic treaty on February 1
• It was established based on recognising the “catastrophic failure of the international community in showing solidarity and equity in response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
• the draft noted “common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities in pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems” as one of its guiding principles
• As per this draft, if and when a pandemic occurs, parties must “take appropriate measures to support time-bound waivers of intellectual property rights that can accelerate or scale up manufacturing of pandemic-related products.”
• The draft strengthens this point by defining what a pandemic means and constituting a time-bound response.
• As per the draft, an outbreak is considered a pandemic when an infection spreads quickly globally — with high morbidity and mortality.
• Other factors are — infecting immunologically naive human populations, pushing health systems to their capacity and beyond, and triggering social and economic disruptions, where mitigation measures require coordinated efforts across the geographical spectrum.
• The constitution of a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system (PABS) under the WHO is another key element of the draft.
• To ensure fair and equitable benefit-sharing, the draft details 20 per cent access for the WHO to pandemic-related products, including diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. Here, 10 per cent each will be designated for donation and sale at affordable prices, respectively.
• The WHO Global Pandemic Supply Chain and Logistics Network, was also prosed under the draft.

Criticisms:

Inclusion of an independent monitoring mechanism to ensure countries comply with the treaty, continues to remain missing,

Background:

• The WHO already has binding rules known as the International Health Regulations, which in 2005 set out countries’ obligations where public health events have the potential to cross borders
• These include advising the WHO immediately of a health emergency and measures on trade and travel
• Adopted after the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, these regulations are still considered appropriate for regional epidemics, such as Ebola but inadequate for a global pandemic
• It would be only the second such health accord after the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty which aims to reduce smoking via taxation and rules on labelling and advertising.
• The new draft of the treaty not clear about the definition of the word “pandemic”.
• The new treaty should be complementary, so that existing rules apply to local outbreaks with the new rules kicking in if the WHO declares a pandemic
• The proposed treaty has come under fire because it could lead to countries ceding authority to the WHO.

Additional Info:

The International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR):

• It provide an overarching legal framework that defines countries’ rights and obligations in handling  public health events and emergencies that have the potential to cross borders.
• The IHR are an instrument of international law that is legally-binding on 196 countries, including the 194 WHO Member States. The IHR grew out of the response to  deadly epidemics that once overran Europe.
• They create rights and obligations for countries, including the requirement to report public health events.
• The Regulations also outline the criteria to determine whether or not a particular event constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern”.
• The IHR require countries to designate a National IHR Focal Point for communications with WHO, to establish and maintain core capacities for surveillance and response, including at designated points of entry.
• Additional provisions address the areas of  international travel and transport such as the health documents required for international traffic.
• The IHR introduce important safeguards to protect the rights of travellers and other persons in relation to the treatment of personal data, informed consent and non-discrimination in the application of health measures under the Regulations.