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WHO members move closer to consensus on anti-pandemic treaty

Anti-pandemic treaty: agreement in principle reached at the WHO
Anti-pandemic treaty: agreement in principle reached at the WHO Keystone-SDA

WHO members have reached a consensus in principle on an anti-pandemic agreement.

After more than three years of discussions in Geneva, the delegations will meet again on Tuesday to finalise the text, the co-chair of the negotiations told French news agency AFP on Saturday morning.

Since Friday morning, participants from the 194 countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO), excluding the United States, which is no longer actively involved, have been locked up for 24 hours. From now on, the capitals will have to assess the text between now and Tuesday.

+ WHO sets 2025 pandemic treaty goal

At the centre of the tensions, the issue of technology transfer to developing countries has entrenched the divisions with the rich countries. Against the African group, the G7 countries insisted that this should be provided for “on a voluntary basis and in mutually agreed terms”, according to a source close to the discussions.

According to NGOs, this approach will not allow equitable access to vaccines against a pandemic. Representatives of civil society accuse rich countries of “torturing” less well-off countries.

Translated from French by DeepL/ds

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