At the end of May, 194 member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) will meet for the World Health Assembly. Negotiations underway now will determine whether they vote then to adopt a pandemic agreement. For the past 2 years, discussions have focused on articulating essential components of a robust and equitable architecture for pandemic preparedness and response. Despite this, talks have failed to produce sufficient consensus on a detailed draft, prompting the intergovernmental negotiating body to propose a “streamlined” version. The new text, released on 16 April, consolidates provisions for research and development, technology transfer, pathogen access and benefit sharing (including pandemic products such as medicines and vaccines), with many particulars deferred to future procedures. Ultimately, success of the agreement will depend on these details and implementation. Nevertheless, member states shouldn’t bypass the consensus reached to date, but continue progress to adopt this agreement.

中文翻译：

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流行病协议指日可待

5月底，世界卫生组织（WHO）194个成员国将召开世界卫生大会。目前正在进行的谈判将决定他们届时是否投票通过一项流行病协议。在过去的两年里，讨论的重点是阐明大流行病防范和应对的稳健和公平架构的重要组成部分。尽管如此，会谈未能就详细草案达成足够共识，促使政府间谈判机构提出“精简”版本。 4 月 16 日发布的新文本整合了有关研究和开发、技术转让、病原体获取和惠益分享（包括药物和疫苗等大流行产品）的规定，其中许多细节推迟到未来的程序。最终，协议的成功将取决于这些细节和实施。尽管如此，成员国不应忽视迄今达成的共识，而应继续推进该协议的通过。