First Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement | Day 1

‘In May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement under Article 19 of the Constitution of the World Health Organization to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Through resolution WHA78.1, the Health Assembly established an open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) to undertake several tasks.

‘These include, as a priority, drafting and negotiating an annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system to enable safe, transparent and accountable access and benefit-sharing for PABS materials and sequence information. The Assembly decided that the outcome of this work would be submitted to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in 2026 for its consideration.

‘In addition, the IGWG will consider procedural and other matters to prepare for the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Pandemic Agreement; develop a proposal for the terms of reference for the Coordinating Financial Mechanism; and oversee other preparations for the first session of the Conference of Parties. This first meeting of the IGWG will consider and adopt the IGWG’s method of work, timeline of activities leading up to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly, the mode of engagement with relevant stakeholders, and elect the co-chairs and vice chairs to lead the IGWG process.’

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