World Health Organisation (WHO) member States, in April, agreed to a framework that ensures that, during a pandemic, influenza virus samples will be shared with partners who need the information to take steps to protect public health.

The new framework agreement includes certain binding legal regimes for WHO members, national influenza laboratories around the world and industry partners in both developed and developing countries, which will improve how the world responds to the next influenza pandemic.

“By ensuring that the roles and obligations among key players are better established than in the past – including through the use of contracts – the frame-work agreement will help to increase and expedite access to essential vaccines, antivirals and diagnostic kits, especially for lower-income countries,” the WHO notes.

Further, the framework agreement will also put the world in a better position to mitigate seasonal influenza and potential pandemic threats, such as the avian influenza (H5N1) virus, because certain key activities will begin before the next pandemic, such as greater support for strengthening laboratories and surveillance and partnership contributions from the industry.

During an influenza outbreak, knowing the exact makeup of the virus is critical for monitoring the spread of the disease, as well as knowing the potential of the virus to cause a pandemic and creating the life-saving vaccines and other technological benefits.

However, developing countries often have limited access to these vaccines for several reasons. They often do not have their own manufacturing capacity; global supplies can be limited when there is a surge in demand, as is seen during pandemics, and vaccines can often be priced out of the reach of some countries.

The new framework agreement will help ensure more equitable access to affordable vaccines and simultaneously guarantee the flow of virus samples into the WHO system so that the critical information and analyses needed to assess public health risks and develop vaccines are available.

“[It] has been a long journey to come to this agreement, but the end result is a very significant victory for public health,” says WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan.

“It has reinforced my belief that global health in the twenty-first century hinges on bringing governments and key stakeholders like civil society and industry together to find solutions,” she says.

The legal regimes will address clear roles and responsibilities of the WHO, national laboratories and vaccine and pharmaceuticals manufacturers.

“The framework provides a much more coherent and unified global approach for ensuring that influenza viruses are available to the WHO system for monitoring and the development of critical benefits, such as vaccines, antiviral drugs and scientific information while simultaneously ensuring more equitable access to these benefits by developing countries,” says WHO assistant director-general of health, security and environment Dr Keiji Fukuda.

The working group was cochaired by Ambassador Juan José Gomez-Camacho from Mexico, and Ambassador Bente Angell-Hansen from Norway, and included the participation of WHO member states, industry representatives, civil society and other organisations involved in influenza pandemic preparedness.

The agreed upon framework will be presented to the World Health Assembly in May 2011 for consideration and approval.

The negotiations by 193 WHO member States began in November 2007 amid concerns that the H5N1 virus in South-East Asia could become a human pandemic.

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