India weighs sovereignty and equity in the WHO Pandemic Agreement
Quick dive
- The WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted by 124 member States in 2025; no country voted against it and 11 abstained.
- It is not yet open for ratification because negotiations continue on an annex for the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system.
- PABS is intended to help secure equitable access for low- and middle-income countries to vaccines, medicines and other therapeutics during a pandemic.
- At the 2026 UN high-level meeting, India stressed national sovereignty, equitable access and global public goods while supporting pandemic preparedness.
- exam_relevance: tests the adoption-versus-ratification distinction and the still-negotiated PABS annex rather than generic pandemic policy; UPSC Mains GS2 2020 asked about global health governance after COVID-19, and Prelims 2021 tested international health institutions, making this institutional stage and benefit-sharing mechanism highly testable.
Full explanation
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