WHO Report On Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Now Available

The World Health Organization secretariat has released its report to the Executive Board meeting on pandemic influenza preparedness. A framework for handling outbreaks of potentially pandemic influenza was approved in May this year, but outstanding – and critical – elements of the framework remained unfinished.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan was tasked at the time with undertaking member state consultations in order to finalise the remaining elements of the framework, including a standard material transfer agreement (SMTA) for the transfer of materials related to virus sharing, how to share benefits arising from the framework, and how to handle intellectual property rights issues. She held these consultations on 19 and 20 October (IPW, WHO, 22 October 2009).

The WHO report is available here [pdf].

The Executive Board meets in January. The secretariat report from 10 December says “wide divergences” still remain on intellectual property issues, with views on whether IP rights should be sought by members of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network dividing sharply into ‘allowed and encouraged’ versus forbidden. Chan said member states should “view the issue of intellectual property rights as only one among many other issues,” the report says.

On benefit sharing, the report says differences remain over whether such sharing should be required or volunteered; on the SMTA it was considered “practical and realistic” to have a streamlined agreement apply to the Global Influenza Surveillance Network, but details and text of the agreement do not yet appear to be finalised.

Also on the site is an update, dated 3 December, on the WHO’s activities in response to H1N1, or “swine flu.” It is available here [pdf].