Overview

• After over three years of negotiations, WHO member states have approved a landmark treaty focused on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
• The agreement introduces equity mechanisms such as the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system (PABS) and a global supply chain network (GSCL) to ensure fair access to vaccines, tests, and treatments.
• A major sticking point was the debate over mandatory versus voluntary technology transfer to developing countries, with a compromise reached on transfers 'by mutual agreement.'
• The treaty, described as legally binding, must now be formally adopted at the World Health Assembly in May to take effect.
• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the accord as a generational step forward, emphasizing the high cost of inaction against future pandemics.