The reform of the International Health Regulations 2024 and the Pandemic Agreement: Did the global community learn the lessons on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response?

The Member States of the World Health Organization have adopted the reform of the International Health Regulations in 2024 and the International Pandemic Agreement in 2025. Currently further negotiations take place on the annex of the so-called Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing System, which sits at the core of the objective to ensure a more equitable and effective response to outbreaks of pandemic potential in the future. The lecture will introduce the basics of public health and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and explore the reform process in the World Health Organization and in international law as well as the underlying principles of the political multilateral dynamics and tensions, including the recent attempts of the United States of America to bilateralize global health. In addition, the lesson will share if time allows reflections on basic methods and principles of negotiation theory and practice.