New Delhi, 26 September: India has called for a fair system of pathogen access and benefit sharing under the WHO Pandemic Agreement, telling a United Nations meeting on pandemic preparedness that countries which share pathogen samples must get timely access to the vaccines, diagnostics and medicines that follow.
Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava made the case while representing India at the UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, held at the UN Headquarters in New York on 25 September. She said the lessons of COVID-19 now had to be turned into sustained investment, institutional capacity and resilient health systems.
Fair sharing under the WHO Pandemic Agreement
Srivastava described the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025, as an important milestone. Its credibility, she said, would depend on a fair Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system.
Under such a system, countries that contribute pathogens and biological resources should receive timely access to vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics, technologies and other benefits, with national sovereignty respected.
She also said the meeting’s political declaration should not prejudge the negotiations still under way on the PABS annex, and should be implemented according to each country’s circumstances and capacities. The One Health approach, she said, should be applied as appropriate under domestic law, international law and national circumstances.
Reviews and consolidation of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response tools, assessments and data should be carried out in consultation with member states, she added, because they carry policy implications.
India’s COVID-19 record and digital health tools
Srivastava told the meeting that during the pandemic India supplied 300 million vaccine doses to around 100 countries and two UN entities, and provided medical assistance to more than 150 countries. She said this reflected India’s commitment to “One Earth, One Health” and to the Global South.
She asked for digital public infrastructure to be recognised as a global public good. Digital systems, she said, played an important part in disease surveillance, vaccination, risk communication, supply chains and keeping health services running during COVID-19.
Building health emergency capacity at home
Outlining India’s approach, Srivastava said the country was expanding laboratory networks, emergency coordination, its health workforce, stockpiles and clinical care capacity so that the health system can respond to emergencies. These efforts, she said, need to be rooted in national health systems, development plans and domestic financing, with international assistance complementing national responsibility.
“Global solidarity must be demonstrated through action,” she said. Preparedness was a shared responsibility, she added, and equity had to stay at the centre of efforts to deal with future pandemics and outbreaks.
WHO and UN warn against complacency
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the meeting that global health security had been strengthened since COVID-19, including through the Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations. He urged countries to conclude the PABS negotiations, warning that delays could affect the world’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed cautioned against complacency and called for continued political attention to the issue. She stressed the need for community-based systems for early detection, surveillance and communication, so that new outbreaks can be identified and contained early.
Medilytix earlier reported on India’s statement at the 78th World Health Assembly and on India’s role as the world’s largest vaccine producer.