The Pandemic Agreement, adopted by consensus at the 78th World Health Assembly in May 2025, marks a historic milestone as the first major agreement in global health under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution since the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Negotiations are ongoing until May 2026 to finalise its central mechanisms, including the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system.
The agreement comes at a critical time. With the US withdrawal, the future of WHO and the agreement hangs in the balance, opening avenues for new actors to shape global health diplomacy and multilateralism. This raises key questions about compliance, equity, and power dynamics: What is different this time compared with earlier global health agreements? What are the implications of US backtracking for financing, governance, and the space for new actors? What needs to happen for the Pandemic Agreement to be effective, and what are the major roadblocks?
This webinar examines these questions from the lens of the Global South. The pandemic exposed deep inequities in global health governance – from vaccine nationalism to limited capacities for timely response across regions. For the Global South, this experience underscored the need for more inclusionary mechanisms within the Pandemic Agreement to ensure preparedness, equitable access and a stronger role in shaping health governance. The webinar will explore the implications of the Pandemic agreement for health preparedness across the Global South, with a specific focus in this session on India and African countries.
The discussion will feature Dr. Rachel Glennerster, President, Center for Global Development; Dr. Reuben Samuel, Programme Area Manager, Country Health Emergency Preparedness & IHR, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, WHO South-East Asia Regional Office; Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Honorary Distinguished Professor and former President, Public Health Foundation of India; and Mr. Boniface Hlabano, Manager of the Health Security Program at Amref Health Africa Headquarters. Dr. Priyadarshini Singh, Fellow at CSEP will moderate the discussion. Opening remarks will be delivered by Sandhya Venkateswaran, Senior Fellow, CSEP, and closing remarks by Priyadarshini Singh.
