The World Animal Health Organization (WOAH) welcomes the groundbreaking conclusions of the pandemic agreement negotiations, a decisive and historic step towards strengthening global health architectures through multilateral cooperation.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement has been confirmed amidst the backdrop of sustained, emerging health threats such as bird flu, MPOX and Ebola, and will underscore the important role of animal health in pandemic prevention and reinforce the urgent need for prevention efforts at sources.
This milestone also confirms Woah’s long-standing advocacy for putting one health condition at the core of global health governance.
In particular, it includes provisions on zoonotic prevention and antibiotic resistance, indicating important advances in pandemic prevention at sources.
Make the world a safer place with the landmark of the pandemic agreement
After more than three years of intensive negotiations, member states have taken a major step in their efforts to make the world safer from the pandemic by building a draft agreement for consideration at the upcoming World Health Parliament in May.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement aims to strengthen global collaboration on prevention, preparation and response to future pandemic threats.
Following 13 formal round meetings, nine of which have been extended and many informal and inter-ses-session negotiations on various aspects of the draft agreement, INB today completed its proposal for the WHO Pandemic Agreement. The results of the INB study will be presented to the 78th World Health Council for its consideration.
“When we reached the consensus on the pandemic agreement, they not only introduced generation-by-generation to make the world safer, but also demonstrated that multilateralism is alive and that in our divided world we can work together to find a common response to a common threat.
The proposal confirms the country’s sovereignty in addressing public health issues within its borders. These include:
Advocating a single health approach to strengthen pandemic preparation, diverse research and development capabilities of pathogen access and shared systems mobilize skilled workforce
Strengthen one health approach
As a key partner in the Quadripartite collaboration on One Health, Woah celebrated WHO Pandemic Asmiral’s recognition of one health approach.
Woah led important efforts to support member states in embedding prevention and embedding one health principle into global health governance. Throughout the negotiation process, the organization provided technical expertise by actively participating in expert roundtables and informal sessions.
Woah has supported its members with science-based guidance at every stage of the process, and has often worked with Quadripartite partners to release several official statements advocating for animal health, prevention, and one health inclusion.
Once adopted by the World Health Parliament at its next meeting in May 2025, WOAH is ready to support its members in implementing the WHO pandemic agreement.
Enhanced veterinary systems for early detection and early warning. Accelerate the implementation of One Health Joint of Action (OH JPA) – align national policies with global standards. zoo disease, wildlife health, AMR surveillance – leveraging a global network of cooperation centers and reference laboratories. Advance science-based policies through the human and animal environment interface through WOAH’s Expert Working Group and the Quadripartite One Health Expert Panel.
Dr. Emmanuelle Soubeyran, director of Woah, concluded: “This contract marks a turning point. Now we’re beginning the critical work of implementation. We’ll continue to make our commitment a robust health system, equitable funding and one health capacity.”
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