Health Affairs April 3, 2024
With the ninth session of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Body (INB9) recently concluded and the 2024 World Health Assembly (WHA) fast approaching, there’s urgency to finalize the Pandemic Agreement and revisions to the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR). These historic international instruments will create new obligations on the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States. But without financing to meet bold new demands, it is unrealistic to expect faithful adherence even if countries are committed to do so. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are skeptical about agreeing to costly capacity-building obligations without tangible financial commitments from higher-resourced countries. And higher-resourced countries have their own political realities, often facing significant political headwinds on financing, including taxpayer skepticism, populist pushback, and fierce...