AHF Nigeria, in collaboration with partners, has called on WHO Member States to adopt a binding Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) Annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement before the resumed sixth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (Part B) in Geneva from April 27 to May 1. The appeal was made in a statement issued Thursday by Steve Aborisade, AHF's Marketing and Communications Manager. The group stressed that the Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025, cannot progress without a PABS Annex that ensures enforceable benefit-sharing during pandemics, Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEICs), and interpandemic periods. AHF emphasized that obligations must be established upfront, not through later bilateral talks between WHO and manufacturers, and should include fixed percentages of vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments set aside for equitable access. Pre-negotiated licenses, technology transfer, annual financial contributions, and public access to non-commercial research outputs were also highlighted as essential. The statement warned that a dual-track system separating access from benefit-sharing would create loopholes and weaken global health equity. Mandatory user registration, traceability, and data access agreements are needed to prevent anonymous exploitation of shared pathogen materials. Intellectual property rules must prioritize public health, with no monopolies on non-commercial use and WHO granted sub-licensing rights for commercial outputs, especially in developing countries.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted in May 2025, yet its core equity mechanism—the PABS Annex—remains unfinalized, exposing a gap between declaration and delivery. This delay means Nigerian researchers and health systems could again be excluded from accessing vaccines and treatments derived from pathogen data shared during outbreaks. Without binding rules, the same inequities seen during COVID-19 may repeat when the next pandemic hits. The upcoming Geneva talks may be the last chance to close this gap before the World Health Assembly.
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