geneva, countries Returned to the negotiating table on Monday in a last-ditch effort to reach a conclusion International Agreement The most likely outcome would be a soft compromise on how to deal with future pandemics that would sidestep some of the most complex issues.

The World Health Organization’s 194 countries have come to its Geneva headquarters for a round of do-or-die talks after a two-year effort to seal a landmark agreement on prevention, preparedness and response, but no concrete words emerged last month . Agreed.

The talks, which will last until May 10, aim to prepare for the adoption of an agreement WhoThe annual assembly of member countries, which begins on May 27.

In December 2021, the blow of COVID-19 – which has devastated economies, crippled health systems and taken millions of lives – led countries to agree to a binding framework of commitments aimed at preventing another such disaster. Inspired to seek.

But there remains a huge difference between countries on how to take it forward.

– Streamlined new draft –

The ninth and final round of talks was set to take place last month, with the 29-page draft growing to more than 100 as countries added proposed amendments.

The Bureau, the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) that organizes the talks, released a streamlined, 23-page new version on April 22 and wants to stop countries from proposing edits.

“The Bureau is of the opinion that the text presented in the WHO pandemic agreement proposal is ready for consensus. It was prepared on the basis of our several rounds of negotiations,” she stressed.

The INB will present all 37 articles of the draft agreement, and if any country has objections, they will be asked to explain their reasons.

If no quick solution can be found in the room, member states will proceed to informal talks to find a solution.

The main controversies revolve around access and equity: access to pathogens found within countries, access to pandemic-fighting products such as vaccines produced from that knowledge, and equitable distribution of not only anti-pandemic tests, treatments and jabs, but also Also the means to produce them. ,

The new draft focuses on setting up the basic framework, and covers some intriguing details in further negotiations planned over the next two years – particularly on how the planned WHO pathogen access and benefit-sharing system will work in practice .

– Draft provisions ‘thinned’ –

A group of 22 NGOs, including Health Action International, urged countries not to succumb to pressure to compromise, postpone or abandon equitable access to anti-pandemic equipment and technology.

“There is no value in having an instrument without concrete deliverables or enforceable provisions on equity – the absence of which reinforces a highly inequitable status quo,” he said in a statement.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday that many provisions crucial to an effective agreement “have been weakened, removed, or are still missing”.

MSF said these include transferring pandemic-fighting technology to poor countries; ensuring that communities where medicines and vaccines are tested have access to the final product; Flexibility on intellectual property laws; and “International storage and equitable allocation”.

The negotiations behind closed doors go on for 12 hours a day.

Recent WHO warnings about the rapid rise of H5N1 bird flu may have given them a new sense of urgency – with concerns about what could happen if it started transmitting between humans.

The INB will take stock of progress on Friday to decide the way forward and aims to conclude negotiations on the text by May 5.

The focus will be on wording the resolution to be passed at the World Health Assembly on May 7-10.

Ethiopia’s ambassador to Geneva, Tsegab Kebebu Daka, said at an event in the city that “We believe that the differences in the text are not very big. They are mainly differences of opinion, and not so much.”