WHO Member States are down to the wire to negotiate a final pandemic agreement. After more than two years of debate, there are only five scheduled negotiating days remaining (April 7-11) to conclude an agreement that banks and builds on the progress achieved so far, and resolve outstanding policy differences. 

New and resurging infectious diseases with pandemic potential threaten our collective health as our world becomes more fractured. WHO Member States must heed their responsibility to build a  platform for global action to prevent and mitigate pandemics and send a strong signal of solidarity on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. 

As currently drafted, the pandemic agreement secures important gains, including on research and development, equitable access to pandemic countermeasures, and a One Health approach to pandemic threats. While not all policy goals have been achieved, this potentially historic agreement lays essential groundwork for equitable, collective preparedness and response now and can be strengthened through additional protocols in the future. We urge Member States to stay laser focused on the end-goal, and find room to give-and-take to reach agreement.

Divisive geopolitics may dominate the headlines, but we must not lose sight of the collective action Member States can take to protect the world from pandemic threats and honour the memories of the estimated 28 million people who have died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic agreement is a necessary tool to advance this mission. 

We are counting on you to pull together and get the agreement done.

Signed by:

Pandemic Action Network
Spark Street Advisors
Panel for a Global Public Health Convention
Helen Clark, Co-Chair of The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response
Ibrahim Abubakar, Palitha Abeykoon, Bente Angell-Hansen, Victor J. Dzau, Jayati Ghosh, Naoko Ishii, Ilona Kickbusch, Maha El Rabbat, Members of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB)