MSF welcomes progress on Pandemic Agreement negotiations: A step toward equity in future pandemics and health emergencies
Geneva, April 15, 2025: After more than three years of intense deliberations on the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Agreement at the World Health Organization (WHO), countries are expected to finally conclude the negotiations today.
Although the agreement went through several compromises, it includes many positive elements allowing for the setup of a new framework for a more equitable and just pandemic preparedness and response in the future. The final text is expected to be adopted at the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA) in May 2025. However, the negotiations on an Annex detailing the new Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism will continue after the WHA. A final agreement on certain provisions, including transfer of technologies, is still pending.
Dr Maria Guevara, International Medical Secretary for Médecins Sans Frontières,
“As an international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has responded to numerous health emergencies over the past 50 years – from HIV and tuberculosis to Ebola and COVID-19. Time and again, we’ve witnessed how the lack of timely access to affordable and available medical tools has left behind the most marginalised communities around the world.
“With negotiations on the draft agreement set to conclude today, we welcome the inclusion of several positive elements in the draft Pandemic Agreement as they send a strong signal of global solidarity, and demonstrate a collective commitment to an inclusive, transparent, and accountable governance that is more prepared for future pandemics and health emergencies.
“We call on countries to turn the commitments made today into meaningful actions — it’s time to put people before profits and individual national interests, and ensure lifesaving medical tools reach those who need them most, when they need them. We also hope that the provision on technology transfer will be finalised and adopted by countries, as it is a critical element for supporting access to medical tools for people, worldwide.
“MSF welcomes the draft agreement’s positive elements which aim to close the critical gaps in accessing medical tools that were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and many other past health emergencies, specifically:
- Priority access for frontline workers: committing to ensure priority access to medical products for healthcare workers during emergencies;
- Humanitarian access: committing to facilitate rapid access to humanitarian relief during emergencies;
- New Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing Mechanism: establishing a system through which pharmaceutical corporations using this mechanism will allocate a portion of the resulting medical product for further supply to countries through WHO;
- Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network: a new mechanism with a clear governance and oversight structure – learning from the shortcomings of the ACT-A mechanism, set up during the COVID-19 pandemic – focused on equitable allocations of medical tools, the promotion of transparency across the value chain, and coordination of international and regional stockpiles, including enabling unimpeded access to medical products in humanitarian settings;
- Groundbreaking research and development (R&D) access requirements: for the first time in international health law, governments will be obligated to develop and implement policies that include global access conditions into public R&D funding agreements with pharmaceutical corporations and public-private partnerships. These conditions could include requirements for transfer of technology, non-exclusive licensing to developing countries, transparency of clinical trials, affordable pricing, and compliance with the WHO’s equitable allocation framework;
- Equity for trial participants and their communities: promoting access to health products for clinical trials participants and their communities at risk;
- Transparency in purchasing agreements: commitments by governments to take measures to publish relevant terms of publicly funded purchase agreements, incorporate conditions to facilitate global access, including on licensing to manufacture, and exclude confidentiality provisions that can hinder the disclosure of public purchase agreements; and
- Fairer procurement policy: committing to avoid excessive national stockpiles and to consider setting aside a portion of national procurements to support countries facing access challenges.