Toward a More Effective, Equitable Pandemic Response

If the COVID-19 pandemic was a stress test for multilateral cooperation, the world failed both in relation to intellectual property regimes and economic solidarity. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed serious weaknesses in the framework of global governance for health, as well as in the normative standards relating to public health emergencies. The International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005), which govern WHO member states’ responses, were largely marginalized, and the limitations of the IHR came into sharp focus as states adopted different responses and had very unequal access to countermeasures.

Today, there are now two parallel processes for developing a pandemic accord: through an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) and through revisions to the IHR. This panel event will set out the context of these two related, but distinct, processes. A moderated discussion will follow, in which speakers will critically analyze the prospects for arriving at agreements that are effective and equitable in preventing and responding to future public health emergencies.