The New Delhi Declaration adopted during the ongoing 18th BRICS summit calls for constructive engagement in the negotiations for the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing Annex to the WHO pandemic agreement “while reaffirming sovereign rights of States over their biological resources as well as the sovereign right to legislate and implement laws, including national access and benefit-sharing legislation”.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation planned to develop a legally binding pandemic agreement for better prevention, preparedness, and response to any future pandemic. While the agreement was adopted during last year’s World Health Assembly, one annex continues to hold the agreement hostage. Once an agreement is reached on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex, the pandemic agreement can be approved or ratified by member states.

The PABS Annex will essentially create a roadmap for sharing of the dangerous pathogens and the medicines, diagnostics, or vaccines developed. Countries are yet to agree upon whether the sharing of pathogen samples should be linked mandatorily with the sharing of the benefits developed — such as companies earmarking a proportion of their production to be given free at affordable costs or sharing the intellectual property with other manufacturers.

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Countries have also said that the mandatory sharing of the pathogens, their genetic sequences, and other data would take away their power to individually negotiate the sharing of such resources.

“We welcome the deepening of cooperation in global health initiatives and reaffirm our commitment to advancing universal health coverage through resilient, inclusive, and people-centred approaches … We reiterate our shared conviction that multilateral cooperation in health must be preserved and reinforced, emphasizing the vital coordinating role of the World Health Organization,” the declaration said. This is significant considering the United States withdrawing from the WHO earlier this year.

The New Delhi declaration also pushes for coordinated surveillance, information sharing, and collective action on public health emergencies. “Acknowledging that infectious disease outbreaks, zoonotic threats, antimicrobial resistance and other public health emergencies transcend national borders … we underscore the importance of enhancing global health security through resilient surveillance systems, effective early warning mechanisms, and strengthened preparedness and response capacities … we welcome the establishment of a dedicated Sub-Working Group to advance the BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for the prevention and response to Mass Infectious Diseases,” the declaration states.

The countries also committed to collaborate, share technology, and research together to end tuberculosis. Ending tuberculosis by 2030 is one of the Sustainable Development Goals.