Countries have taken a major step toward finalizing a landmark global agreement aimed at preventing future pandemics.
The agreement follows more than three years of talks launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to address global gaps in pandemic readiness and response. If adopted, it would be the first legally binding deal of its kind under WHO’s Constitution, focused on stronger cooperation between countries, institutions, and private and civil sectors.
“Governments are acting together to make the world healthier, fairer and safer from future pandemic threats,” said WHO Director-General Dr TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS. “This agreement means countries will be better prepared and more united the next time a pandemic strikes.”
Namibia’s Health Minister, Dr ESPERANCE LUVINDAO, who chaired Monday’s committee session, called the deal a show of solidarity after the devastating global losses from COVID-19. “We owe this to the world’s children, elders and health workers,” she said.
If approved in Tuesday’s vote, the resolution will launch several key initiatives:
A new Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system, which aims to ensure fair access to virus samples and resulting treatments or vaccines;
A global supply and logistics network to guarantee fast and equitable distribution of pandemic-related health tools;
The creation of a financial coordination mechanism to support global pandemic response efforts.
Under the proposed terms, vaccine and drug manufacturers would be expected to make 20% of real-time production of vaccines, treatments and tests available to WHO during a pandemic. Distribution would prioritize public health risk and developing countries.
The agreement complements recent updates to the International Health Regulations, which strengthen global outbreak detection and response.
Tuesday’s full assembly vote will be followed by high-level speeches from world leaders. If adopted, the deal will need 60 national ratifications to officially take effect.
WHO officials praised the efforts of negotiators and the support teams involved. “This is a historic achievement,” said Dr Tedros. “The world is safer today because of their work.”
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China has announced plans to fully cover childbirth-related costs for families as authorities move to incentivise young couples to have more children.
The Taliban leadership in Afghanistan opted out of a major regional meeting held in Iran’s capital Tehran on Sunday.
Australia vowed stricter gun laws on Monday as it began mourning victims of its worst mass shooting in almost 30 years, in which police accused a father-and-son duo of killing 16 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Oil prices are rising worldwide as investors assess supply risks linked to growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela after the former seized an oil tanker Skipper on 10 December, a move Caracas calls “international piracy”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Ankara, at his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks took place on the sidelines of the international Forum for Peace and Trust in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Friday (12 December).
Russia’s human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, has said that Ukraine has not provided Moscow with a list of thousands of children it alleges were taken illegally to Russia, despite the issue being discussed during talks in Istanbul.
Iranian authorities have seized a foreign tanker carrying more than 6 million litres of smuggled fuel in the Sea of Oman, detaining all 18 crew members on board.
An explosive device found in a vehicle linked to one of the alleged attackers in Bondi shooting has been secured and removed according to Police. The incident left 12 people dead.
The latest round of clashes between Thailand and Cambodia has left 15 Thai soldiers dead and 270 others injured, Thailand’s Ministry of Defence spokesman Surasant Kongsiri said at a press conference on Saturday.
Oil prices are rising worldwide as investors assess supply risks linked to growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela after the former seized an oil tanker Skipper on 10 December, a move Caracas calls “international piracy”.
Syria has arrested five people suspected of having links to a deadly attack on a joint U.S.–Syrian convoy in the central town of Palmyra on Saturday, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
The head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, the foreign spy service known as MI6, has warned that Russia "remains an aggressive and expansionist threat", vowing sustained support for Ukraine and calling for greater use of technology to protect UK security.
Odesa residents remained without power for a third straight day on Monday (15 December) after a Russian missile and drone strike crippled the power grid on Saturday (13 December).
Fighting along the Thailand–Cambodia border has entered a fifth consecutive day, despite U.S. President Donald Trump claiming he had brokered a ceasefire between the two sides.
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