The 79th World Health Assembly began in Geneva on Monday with World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighting the challenges the UN body faces.
"We live in difficult and dangerous and divisive times," Tedros said at the opening of the gathering, which comes a day after the WHO declared an international public health emergency in Congo and Uganda following an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.
The main undertaking of the assembly, which is the WHO's highest decision-making body, of passing a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex, a key part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, is not expected to take place at the gathering due to a lack of consensus among the member states.
In a statement at the beginning of the month, the WHO said the PABS system is intended to ensure the rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use, such as vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Finalizing the PABS Annex is necessary so countries can proceed with signature and ratification of the Pandemic Agreement, which was passed last year without the annex. However, ratification in the individual countries can proceed only once it is complete.
