TWN Info Service on Health Issues (May24/02)
2 May 2024
Third World Network

WHO: African health ministers call to ensure equity in the pandemic instrument

Geneva, 2 May (TWN) – The communique of African health minsters at a high-level consultation on the pandemic instrument made a strong call to ensure equity.

The high-level consultation of health ministers was facilitated by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on 27 April in Addis Ababa.

The Communique contains a preambular paragraph and stated positions on the following three areas, clearly articulating the Africa Group’s position:

·         Ensure equity the draft pandemic instrument  

·         Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response

·         Predictable, sustainable financing and governance.

This is expected to guide negotiators during the resumed session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on the pandemic instrument, which is taking place from 29 April to 10 May at the WHO Headquarters in a hybrid mode.

Extracts from the communique:

“Ensure equity in the pandemic agreement  

a. A multilateral pathogen access and benefit sharing system (PABS), which provides legal certainty for both users and providers and ensures an improved access to pandemic-related

health products, technologies with measures that establishes regionally-distributed production of pandemic related health products.

b. Commitments to organize and resource technical support on the range of matters covered by the draft agreement, including all equity-related provisions, as well as pandemic prevention and public health surveillance, preparedness, readiness, and resilience, and health and care workforce through WHO coordinated mechanisms that are accountable to the Conference of Parties.

c. Appropriate safeguards and limitations that should be placed on the use and sharing of data and information provided by State Parties to WHO, such that the information shared should not be used to the detriment of the interests of the State Parties providing the information such as disproportionate travel or trade bans, devaluation of credit rating and/or sovereign bonds.

Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR)

a. Formulate coherent national and regional strategies for emergency preparedness and response and health workforce development, including community health workforce.

b. Enact domestic laws providing for broad exemptions and limitations to intellectual property to address public health emergencies.

c. Increase supply chain diversification and logistics streamlining (continental, regional and

national), including through initiatives with other Global South countries.

d. Make incremental steps, in line with respective capacities and nationally self-determined

priorities, on PPPR competencies.

e. Operationalize various WHO coordinated mechanisms such as on coordinating R&D and

technology transfer, in a manner that such mechanisms are accountable to the Conference of Parties and take guidance from the Conference of Parties in their operations.

Predictable, sustainable financing and governance

a. Call for an International financing mechanism that is accountable to the Conference of Parties and enshrining explicit commitments to new, sustainable, and increased funding support from developed countries for country-level pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in developing countries, debt relief and debt restructuring mechanisms including debt for PPPR swaps.

b. Accelerate the operationalisation of the financing of the African Epidemic Fund.”

There was a confusion regarding the content of the Communique. On 28 April a copy of the Communique was made available in the public domain. Then some people involved in the High-Level Meeting clarified that the version available in the social media is not the version approved by the ministers.

A new version was then circulated on 29 April. The difference noticed from both versions is the reference to the Pandemic Fund under the World Bank.  Currently there is no reference to Pandemic Fund in Paragraph (a) on predictable and sustainable financing and governance. The version circulated on Sunday 28 April clearly mentioned the Pandemic Fund. The relevant paragraph in the old version read:

“Call for an International financing mechanism such as Pandemic Fund that is accountable to the Conference of Parties and enshrining explicit commitments to new, sustainable, and increased funding support from developed countries for country-level pandemic prevention, preparedness and response in developing countries, debt relief and debt restructuring mechanisms including debt for PPPR swaps”.