There is a strong focus on changes to international health regulations that will be passed this week

GENEVA – A number of powerful member states including the US, Germany and New Zealand has strongly called for the adoption of amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) before the end of the World Health Assembly on Saturday.

During the pandemic, shortcomings of the IHR, the only global rules governing international disease outbreaks, were exposed, prompting a two-year process to change them.

Agreement is close, but there are outstanding issues, particularly regarding definitions, according to report on the IHR negotiations to the WHA by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“I appeal to us to focus on the IHR so that we can succeed, because it already provides much better protection around the world,” said German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.

A strong positive signal

The European Union (EU) shared this view, calling progress on amendments to the IHR “remarkable”.

“The adoption of these amendments in a very short time, just two years, will send a very positive signal to the outside world about the ability of WHO and its members to take concrete action to improve the global health architecture,” the EU said.

“Such an adoption will also send a very positive signal for the future of the INB (Intergovernmental Negotiating Body) process.”

However, the EU acknowledged that some issues still needed to be resolved and called on all partners to “redouble their efforts” to finalize the work and adopt the IHR amendments on 1 June.

Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, co-chair of the IHR Amendments Working Group, told WHA that the committee “Very close Down completing some Agreement package With amendments”.

“Over there Is Both momentum AND some striving among states events Down complete the task,” Bloomfield said. “ANDcheering AND package With IHR amendments while This installation I would To be AND important milestone AND achievement AND We be careful IN AND Very important tap dancing stone Down successfully To sum up the pandemic agreement negotiations Later.”

However, it is unclear whether the African region will support amendments to the IHR if its demand for a quick pandemic agreement by the end of this year is not accepted.

While Botswana expressed its support for an early resolution of the IHR during the session, Kenya – on behalf of the African region – linked the IHR amendments to the pandemic agreement and simply stated that the region was ready to reach a consensus.

Still fierce disputes

On Tuesday afternoon, during a packed WHA session, there were intense discussions and sharp disagreements about the way forward for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on the pandemic agreement.

Two resolutions were proposed, one from WHO’s 47 African member states and the other from a group of countries known for their conciliatory role in the talks, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Norway and Pakistan.

South Africa, speaking on behalf of the African region, proposed to conclude negotiations on the pandemic agreement and present them to the special WHA by the end of the year.

However, the US, European countries and others have proposed extending the talks for a year.

At the time of publication, no clear path forward had been established for either the IHR amendments or the pandemic agreement processes. While the IHR amendment process may be close to consensus, the WGIHR and INB mandates have expired and the WHA will need to decide whether to extend their mandates.

The committee chairman proposed that a meeting of the committee preparing the pandemic agreement be held on Wednesday to discuss the process, which will then be presented to the WHA.