More than two years of intense negotiations, and 194 countries are still talking. That's exactly the point.
In Geneva this May, government representatives wrapped up ten days of discussions at the World Health Organization headquarters. Their mission: keep building toward the world's first-ever pandemic agreement — a shared set of rules all nations would follow to prevent and respond to global health crises. And by all accounts, they're not slowing down.
The meetings, held from April 29 to May 10, 2024, brought together the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) — a group of countries working together since late 2021 to draft this historic agreement. The timing matters. The World Health Assembly, the WHO's main decision-making body, meets starting May 27, and leaders wanted to present real progress.
So what are they working on? At the top of the list: a new system for sharing pathogens — the germs that cause disease — and the life-saving tools that come from studying them, like vaccines and treatments. Countries are also hammering out details on pandemic prevention, financing to help poorer nations prepare, and something called "One Health" — the idea that human health, animal health, and the environment are all connected.
Dr. Precious Matsoso of South Africa, who co-chairs the INB, called the moment historic. "This is the first ever process to develop a proposed agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response," she said. "Getting this done means getting it right, and the INB Bureau is committed to help finalize a meaningful, lasting agreement."
Her co-chair, Roland Driece of the Netherlands, was blunt about why this matters. "It is not a matter of if a pandemic will happen again; it is a matter of when," he said. "We cannot afford to miss this historic opportunity to make the world safer from the next pandemic threat."
The push for a pandemic agreement traces back to March 2021, when leaders from two dozen countries called for exactly this kind of global teamwork. By December of that year, WHO's member states voted to launch the formal process. Now, after more than two years of talks across multiple rounds of negotiations, countries are still at the table — still committed to getting it right.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it a generational opportunity. "WHO's Member States have shown unwavering commitment to forging a generational agreement to protect the world from a repeat of the horrors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," he said. "I welcome the determination that all countries have shown to continue their work."
The work isn't finished. But for the first time in history, every country in the world is trying to write shared rules for a healthier future — together.
The World Health Assembly meets May 27, 2024.