World Health Organisation: Pandemic Accord Negotiations and International Health Regulations

Ashley Dalton Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

I would like to update the House regarding the final round of negotiations on the international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response—the pandemic accord—at the World Health Organisation, as well as the targeted amendments to the international health regulations, which were agreed in June 2024.

Pandemic accord negotiations

In March 2021, member states of the WHO, including the UK, agreed to draft and negotiate a pandemic accord to keep the UK and the world safer from pandemic threats. I am pleased to announce that following the most recent rounds of negotiations between 7 to 11 April and 15 to 16 April, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body has reached agreement on the full text. WHO member states will consider its formal adoption at the World Health Assembly next month.

This is a historic moment for the UK and global health security. The accord should meaningfully improve UK and global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response capabilities. It should protect lives, livelihoods, the economy and the NHS, and bring genuine benefits to UK health security, jobs and growth, in line with the Government plan for change.

Since the House was last updated, UK officials have worked closely with our global partners to resolve the key remaining issues in the accord, including on the pathogen access and benefit sharing—PABS—system. This will be a new, voluntary system for pharmaceutical companies to sign up to in order to gain faster access, with less red tape, to the pathogens they need to create new vaccines, treatments and tests in the event of a pandemic. This is good news for scientific innovation, good news for the UK’s world-leading life sciences industry, and good news for all of us.

Negotiators also resolved outstanding and important issues on pandemic prevention. The accord will ensure that member states take comprehensive action, together, to better prevent pandemics and improve disease surveillance so we can detect and respond to emerging pandemic threats promptly. In addition, the inclusion of a “One Health” approach in the accord—which recognises the vital link between animal, human and environmental health—strengthens multi-sectoral collaboration, helping to better address the emergence of pandemic risks, many of which originate in animal populations. At the same time the accord protects the sovereignty of member states, including the UK, to make their own public health decisions in the event of a global health emergency.

I now look forward to the 78th meeting of the World Health Assembly in May, where member states will come together to make a final decision on whether to adopt the accord. If adopted, member states will then start negotiations to agree the details of how the PABS system will operate, after which it will be up to each member state to decide whether to ratify the pandemic accord.

International health regulations

I would also like to update the House on the IHR, for which targeted amendments were agreed at the WHA in June 2024. The IHR are an important technical framework that helps to prevent and protect against the international spread of disease. Amendments to the IHR were agreed by countries to reflect lessons learnt from recent global health emergencies, such as the covid-19 pandemic, including by improving information sharing and collaboration for public health emergency response. Member states have until 19 July 2025 to decide whether to recognise the amendments or to reserve or opt out.



The Department of Health and Social Care has been leading work across Government to confirm the implications of the amendments for the UK, working with counterparts in the devolved Governments, and our overseas territories and Crown dependencies to ensure all relevant territories are considered. This analysis will inform the decision about which amendments are in the UK’s national interest. No decision has yet been made on which IHR amendments the UK will accept.

Neither the pandemic accord nor the IHR include any proposals that would give the WHO powers to impose domestic decisions on the UK. This Government will only agree to a pandemic accord and IHR amendments that are in the national interest. The sovereign right of states is expressed as one of the guiding principles of the accord. Under the IHR, while the WHO director-general may make recommendations on international responses to public health emergencies, these recommendations are non-binding and it is for member states to determine their domestic response.

I will update the House again following the WHA in May.

[HCWS603]