Medical officials from around the world will try this week to agree on funding for developing countries and measures to prevent pathogens jumping from animals to humans.
The meeting that begins today in Geneva is part of the negotiations of the World Health Organization committee with the aim of suppressing pandemic threats and reaching a legally binding agreement. The participation of representatives from 194 countries is expected.
Among the most contentious topics, according to Reuters sources, are the costs of measures to combat the risk of pathogens from the wild. Risk factors, which mostly disproportionately affect the developing world, include deforestation, climate change, rapid urbanization and wildlife trade.
Previous talks on the proposed agreement, which began two years ago, focused on the preparedness of health systems. In contrast, the focus of the conversation this week will be prevention.
"There will be more pandemics and more dangerous epidemics if we do not act preventively," she said Chadija Vanus, global coordinator of the World Organization for Animal Health, who is participating in the negotiations.
Last May, Reuters published an exclusive global analysis of environmental risk factors associated with zoonotic spillover, the term scientists use to describe the jump of pathogens from animals to humans. Spills are a leading source of infectious disease in humans.
The pathogens that cause covid-19, ebola, nipah and other deadly diseases originate from or are closely related to viruses in the wild, especially those carried by tropical bats.
Since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, global medical officials have been trying to create a "pandemic agreement" to better prepare for future pandemics.
The WHO's governing body has chosen delegations from each of its six administrative regions around the world to lead the negotiations. The delegations occasionally met with representatives of the member states and are in charge of reaching an agreement by May 2024.
However, governments remained divided and failed to agree on the fundamentals needed to strengthen global health systems. These basics include information sharing, cost sharing and vaccines.
Divisions erupted again in June, when the European Union negotiated new agreements with drug companies to reserve vaccines for future pandemics. Critics have accused the bloc of "vaccine apartheid". "Trust between high- and low-income countries has fallen dramatically," he said Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Center for Cooperation in the Field of National and Global Health Law.
The gap between rich and poor countries is stated already in the first paragraph of the proposed agreement that will be discussed in Geneva. The draft cites "the catastrophic failure of the international community to show solidarity and fairness in responding to the disease caused by the coronavirus."
Despite the broad consensus on the need to prevent pandemics, negotiators remain divided when it comes to concrete measures. The biggest problem, according to Reuters interlocutors, remains the financing of poor countries.
Already faced with a lack of resources to strengthen their public health systems, developing country governments need additional resources if they are to invest in prevention. These may include measures such as improved surveillance of emerging diseases, efforts to combat deforestation, and greater surveillance of development in areas that may be susceptible to new transmissions.
Currently, such measures are proposed in the agreement through the concept known as "One Health" (One Health), which is described in the "action plan" of the WHO and other international agencies for the year 2022. The concept connects the well-being of people with the well-being of animals and the environment.
The US and the European Union have said they support the inclusion of "One Health" provisions in the pandemic agreement.
However, as far-reaching and occasionally abstract, "One Health" measures can be expensive to implement. "Lower-income countries don't want to make commitments unless they get financing," Gostin told Reuters. "Higher-income countries resist providing funds."
Almost all of the highest-risk areas identified in the Reuters analysis of transmission are in low- and middle-income countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, much of the deforestation and development in these areas is driven by the demand for minerals, food and other raw materials in rich countries.
Sharing responsibilities - to say nothing of sharing consequences - means there should be cost sharing, some officials argue. "It should be in everyone's interest to find solutions, so that it is not just a financial problem for low-income countries," she said. Maria von Kerkow, an epidemiologist who heads the WHO department for emerging diseases. "We live in a connected world and any pathogen that appears in one part of the planet can be in another part in 24 to 48 hours."
"Prevention is definitely one of the most economical measures," the official told Reuters. "It is indisputable both in terms of human lives, which is the most important thing, and in terms of financial resources."
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