From Reaction to Resilience: The WHO Pandemic Agreement as a Blueprint for Global Health Equity

Abstract

In May 2025, 124 WHO Member States adopted the first-ever Pandemic Agreement, rooted in principles of human dignity, equity, solidarity, and sovereignty, at the 78th World Health Assembly [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how unprepared the world was to face a pandemic and resistant to sharing [2,3]. From vaccine nationalism to fractured supply chains and the marginalization of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in scientific discovery and access, the world was caught flat-footed, despite prior warnings [4,5].