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Nearly 100 organisations from around the world have sent a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO), raising concerns about the proposals for the Pathogens Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system. This is being discussed currently at the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) for a WHO instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The organisations pointed out that there are insufficient provisions for equitable benefit-sharing in PABS and put down their concerns about the latest proposal submitted by the bureau of INB. They said that while this document has incorporated the language proposed by the European Union, the proposals from the Group of Equity and the Africa Group have been disregarded.
The coalition wanted WHO to work towards putting in place a mechanism which ensured that benefits derived from the use of biological resources are shared in a fair and equitable way.
WHO should manage this system to ensure that it is independent, accountable and free from conflicts of interest, they added. WHO already manages the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework that was put in place in 2011.
The text being discussed by INB is inadequate as it advicates for only minimal commitment from manufacturers using the PABS system, which is limited to a 5 per cent donation of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTD) during pandemics.
The figure is far below the 20 per cent originally proposed by the Africa Group and the sharing is likely to happen only during a pandemic emergency that is not a frequent occurrence, the organisations wrote in the letter.
The proposal has loopholes which would allow manufacturers to avoid the obligation to reserve VTDs for WHO or for vulnerable countries, which would be detrimental to equitable sharing during public health emergencies, the letter dated September 16, 2024 added.
This would perpetuate the very inequities that the pandemic instrument seeks to address, disregarding lessons learnt from COVID-19 and other recent global health crises.
Also, the current text does not ensure transparency and accountability as it does not include terms for accessing pathogen materials and digital sequences or ensuring fair benefit-sharing. This undermines international commitments under frameworks such as the Nagoya Protocol and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
INB, which was established in December 2021, hopes to conclude the negotiation on the text by December 2024 and, in an effort to meet the deadline, seems to have stripped the document of most of the meaningful benefits that should stem from the sharing of pathogen materials and sequence information. Talks on the Pandemic Treaty are slated to end in 2025 and the decision taken at the INB is crucial to meet the deadline.
In response to this haste, the organisations wrote in the letter, an incomplete Pandemic Agreement serves no real benefit to humanity.
The coalition of organisations called on WHO Member States to revise the PABS proposal to ensure that it upholds the principles of fairness, equity and transparency, in line with international law. Without these changes, the PABS system risks becoming yet another mechanism that entrenches global disparities in access to critical healthcare resources during pandemics, they said.