UPSC Darpan

Health & Life SciencesGS2 · GS38 October 2026

India Urged to Lead Global South as Pandemic Agreement Awaits Its Pathogen-Sharing Annex

Open in the app — quiz, notes, Mistake Vault हिंदी में पढ़ें

The news

New Delhi, October 8. Writing in The Hindu, Priyadarshini Singh of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress notes that India spoke on the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response at the UN High Level Meeting in September. The WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted in 2025 by 124 member-states, India among them, with none against and 11 abstaining. It is not yet open for ratification because the annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) is still being negotiated. PABS is the bargain under which countries share virus samples and genetic data quickly and poorer countries, in return, get a fair share of the resulting vaccines and medicines. The United States rejected the Declaration, objecting to PABS and WHO’s role in declaring pandemics. India, the author argues, should lead the Global South.

The chain in one line: COVID-19 vaccines reach rich countries first → WHO members negotiate a treaty → North resists binding technology transfer, South resists unfunded One Health duties → adopted in 2025 with PABS left to an annex → ratification waits, and the U.S. stays out

Static syllabus linkage

  1. The Pandemic Agreement is a WHO treaty; the IHR are WHO regulations. Article 19 of the WHO Constitution lets the World Health Assembly adopt conventions by a two-thirds vote; the Pandemic Agreement, adopted on 20 May 2025, uses it and opens for signature only after the PABS annex is adopted. Article 21 allows regulations binding on all members unless they opt out, such as the International Health Regulations (2005).
  2. Access and benefit-sharing already exists in law for genetic resources. The Nagoya Protocol (2010) under the Convention on Biological Diversity requires prior informed consent and fair benefit-sharing for use of a country’s genetic resources. India implements it through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, under which foreign users need approval from the National Biodiversity Authority in Chennai.

Why UPSC loves this

  1. Global health is now an international-institutions topic. The syllabus asks about “Important International institutions, agencies and fora – their structure, mandate”. WHO treaty-making and vaccine equity link health with diplomacy.

Prelims nuggets

  • The WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, which requires a two-thirds vote of the World Health Assembly.
  • The International Health Regulations (2005) bind all WHO members unless they reject them, and their 2024 amendments created a “pandemic emergency” category.
  • India’s National Biodiversity Authority, under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, approves foreign access to Indian biological resources.

Analysis

  1. PABS is a trade of samples for doses, and its value lies in the fixed share. A country reporting a virus suffers travel bans yet without a rule gets nothing from vaccines its sample enabled. PABS makes sharing pay by reserving output for poorer countries; if that share is voluntary or small, the incentive to share early collapses.
  2. Lens — National interest and global commons: India gains from both sides of the bargain. Pandemic intelligence is a global commons, but each state guards its samples and sovereignty. India makes vaccines at scale, so it wants open access to samples; it relies on foreign patents and imported APIs, so it also wants guaranteed benefit-sharing and technology transfer. A thoughtful officer backs a binding, funded PABS: India loses more from another COVID-style queue than from sharing duties.
  3. Without the U.S., the regime’s pull depends on what middle powers build. With the largest pharmaceutical power outside, groupings such as the H20 summit and India’s 2023 Global Initiative on Digital Health matter more. Critics call a treaty without the biggest player symbolic; but benefit-sharing that works among willing states creates its own pull.

Possible Mains question

Pathogen access and benefit-sharing is the unfinished core of the WHO Pandemic Agreement. Discuss its significance for India and the Global South. (15 marks, 250 words)

Model approach

  1. Directive — Discuss. Weigh several sides; reach a view.
  2. Introduction — a treaty adopted, an annex pending. 124 votes in 2025; ratification awaits PABS.
  3. Body — PABS fixes COVID’s broken bargain. Samples shared fast, doses reserved for poorer countries. Draw a loop: sample → data → vaccine → reserved share.
  4. Body — India gains as maker and as importer. Foreign patents, imported APIs. Value addition: Nagoya Protocol.
  5. Body — fault lines remain. One Health funding, technology transfer, U.S. rejection.
  6. Conclusion — lead by domestic example. Equitable national rules give India standing abroad.

Administrator's brainstorm

As a State Health Secretary, a lab detects a new pathogen. A colleague says delay sharing until benefits are assured. What do you do?

I would report at once through the national IHR focal point, because delay costs lives and breaches a binding obligation. Benefit-sharing is the Union’s negotiation, not a State lab’s trade; I would document the sample’s origin so India’s claim is clear.