WHO Pandemic Agreement: Intergovernmental Working Group Reconvenes

The resumed session of the fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement will be conducted in hybrid format during 20–22 January 2026, from 09:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:30 each day. In May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement under Article 19 of the Constitution of the World Health Organization to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Through resolution WHA78.1, the Health Assembly established an open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) to undertake several tasks, including, as a priority, drafting and negotiating an annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system. This system will enable the safe, transparent and accountable access and benefit-sharing for PABS materials and sequence information. At the fourth meeting in December, Member States requested to extend the round of negotiations, agreeing to resume in January 2026. The finalized PABS annex is expected to be submitted to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in 2026 for its consideration. Webcast