Germany backs World Health Organization
Federal Minister of Health Nina Warken: Pandemic agreement shows WHO’s strength
The German government will provide an additional 10 million euros in funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). Federal Minister of Health Nina Warken made the announcement on the eve of the World Health Assembly (WHA) after a meeting with WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva. In this way, Germany will support the WHO reforms that need to be initiated since the USA withdrew from the World Health Organization.
Alongside upcoming structural reforms, the World Health Assembly from 19 to 27 May 2025 is due to discuss the topic of the international pandemic agreement. The agreement contains binding provisions to enhance pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. A resolution to adopt the agreement is expected to be passed at the beginning of the coming week.
The imminent adoption of the international pandemic agreement shows just what the WHO member states can do, namely protect global human health through better collaboration. Scarcely anyone would have thought this possible after the United States’ withdrawal from WHO. This makes it all the more pertinent that the World Health Organization moves forward with its internal reform process and focuses on its core tasks. These are global health monitoring, pandemic prevention, disease control and equitable access to healthcare. Germany supports this reform in the global interest and consequently in its own interest.
Click on the button to reload the content.
I thank Germany for its continued trust and commitment to global health. At this critical time for WHO, Germany’s contribution underlines its confidence in WHO’s role and its ability to lead. With Germany’s partnership, we will continue to support countries, protect communities, and build a stronger, more prepared global health system for the future.
Germany already provided 2 million euros in funding to WHO at the beginning of April. That funding will be added to Germany’s WHO contributions of 323 million US dollars to date for 2024/2025 (comprising assessed contributions and voluntary contributions).
Further details regarding the international pandemic agreement
1. Prevention:
- For the first time, an international legal instrument recognises the importance of considering human health, animal health and environmental health as interconnected. This ‘One Health’ approach is the basis for reimagining health protection.
- Additionally, the agreement aims to enhance prevention by speeding up data sharing, reducing pandemic risks, improving monitoring of outbreaks, increasing lab safety and security, better protecting the health and care workforce and strengthening emergency teams.
2. Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS):
- Pathogens and data are to be shared to facilitate the development of medicines and vaccines. In return, pharmaceutical companies are to donate ten percent of their production to WHO for distribution to poorer countries in particular and to sell up to ten percent of their production to WHO at affordable prices. The details of this provision will need to be negotiated further in an Annex. Those negotiations will commence after the WHA has taken place.
3. Technology transfer:
- Technology transfer will be encouraged but will be undertaken willingly. This is mainly important in order not to stymie innovation and competitiveness.
4. Sovereignty:
- The pandemic agreement will not affect any sovereign rights of the member states. It says that decisions around specific responses to public health threats will continue to be taken by the individual states.
Background to the international pandemic agreement
The pandemic agreement is to be adopted at the WHA but will not enter into force until it has been ratified by all member states. In order for this to happen, however, important sections still need to be worked out in more detail.