WHA79
79th World Health Assembly, Geneva, 18-23 May 2026; deferred the pandemic pathogen-sharing annex to 2027.
WHA79 put the Pandemic Agreement's pathogen-sharing annex back to May 2027 on 19 May 2026; the next two rounds of talks, the latest ending in Geneva on 18 September, both closed without a text.
Last refreshed: 4 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Will WHA79 authorise enough negotiating time for PABS to reach a binding resolution, or is another extension coming?
Timeline for WHA79
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Pandemics and BiosecurityBackground
The 79th World Health Assembly met in Geneva from 18 to 23 May 2026 and adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 resolutions, WHO said. The Assembly is the annual meeting of WHO's member states. WHA79 followed WHA78, which adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025.
On 19 May 2026 member states put off adopting the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex until the 80th Assembly in May 2027, or a special session if a text is ready sooner. PABS is meant to give countries that share virus samples fair access to the vaccines made from them, and the Pandemic Agreement cannot open for signature without it.
The session's other lasting outputs were the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2026-2036, which aims to cut deaths from bacterial resistance by 10% by 2030, and WHO's first full resolution on radiation and health. The Assembly also amended the Global Code of Practice on the international recruitment of health personnel and adopted a strategy on the economics of health for 2026-2030.
The deferral has produced no text
The Assembly's central pandemic decision, taken on 19 May 2026, was to put off the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex until the 80th Assembly in May 2027, or a special session if a text is ready sooner. The annex sets out how countries share virus samples and genetic data, and what they get back in vaccines.
The Deadline WHA79 set has not yet forced a deal. The seventh round of talks in July and the eighth, which ended in Geneva on 18 September, both closed without an agreed annex. After a UN General Assembly meeting on pandemics on 25 September, WHO restated May 2027 as the date. The Pandemic Agreement, adopted at WHA78 in May 2025, cannot open for signature until the annex is adopted.
WHA79 set a modest death target
On 23 May 2026 the Assembly adopted the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2026-2036. It aims to cut deaths from bacterial resistance by 10% by 2030 under a One Health approach. Bacterial resistance was associated with 4.71 million deaths in 2021 and is projected to cause 39 million a year by 2050. Like the 2015 global plan, the new one binds no government to pass laws.
Within days, WHO's own data made the 10% target look small. WHO's global surveillance report, covering 104 countries, found that one in six bacterial infections no longer responds to standard first-line antibiotics. Resistance rose in 40% of tracked pathogen-drug combinations between 2018 and 2023. Some experts called WHA79's 10% goal modest against that trend.