Published on 13 Oct 2025
Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed to a legally binding treaty aimed at improving pandemic preparedness.
This marks only the second such agreement in WHO's history, after the 2003 tobacco control deal.
Key elements include the WHO overseeing global supply chains for personal protective equipment (PPE), pharmaceutical companies allocating 10% of their vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostic production to the WHO, and providing another 10% at affordable prices.
Member nations will transfer health technologies to poorer countries as agreed, and a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS) will speed up data exchange for faster drug development.
The US was absent from final discussions after President Trump's withdrawal from the WHO.
WHO’s Pandemic Agreement
World Health Organization
WHO
Pandemic
Health
Diseases