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Indonesia Pushes For Equal Access Through Pandemic Treaty

The bitter experience of COVID-19 has led to the formation of a new international instrument to address preparedness and pandemic response issues called the Pandemic Treaty/Pandemic Agreement. This initiative originates from the WHO and is supported by Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) along with 25 other heads of state/government.

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that many countries are unable to protect the health of their populations. The global health resilience system, especially in developing countries, appears very fragile, ranging from financial strength to access to vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics (VTD).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a gap between developed countries (global north) and low- and middle-income countries or LMICs (global south). Issues such as narrow nationalism and populism, global funding, intellectual property rights, pathogen sharing, and the benefits of pandemic-related products are further widening the global divide.

"This gap has led to, up to now, 30% of the world's population never having received a vaccine," said Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr. M Syahril.

According to Dr. Syahril, the Pandemic Treaty is expected to encourage developing countries, including Indonesia, to have access to vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tools (VTD) on par with developed countries.

"The negotiation process has been ongoing since December 2021, but due to not reaching an agreement, the 77th World Health Assembly decided to extend the negotiations until the next WHA session," said Dr. Syahril.

In these negotiations, Indonesia actively participates in the Pandemic Treaty negotiations at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) and advocates for national interests, especially on strategic issues such as surveillance systems, technology transfer, and equal access in facing pandemics.

The negotiations have been very tough, conducted more than 10 times until the deadline on May 24, 2024. However, there are still some articles that have not been agreed upon, especially regarding Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS), prevention and One Health instruments, technology and knowledge transfer, no-fault compensation, and funding.

"The Indonesian government will continue to fight for the principle of equality between developed and developing countries to be included in the Pandemic Treaty," Dr. Syahril continued.

Specifically, there are four points that the Indonesian government is concerned about in the Pandemic Treaty components, namely Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS), One Health instruments, technology transfer, and funding. These four points are related to the gap between developed and developing countries.

Regarding PABS, which shows preparedness and response to pandemics, the Indonesian government is pushing for every data sharing, especially involving pathogens and genetic sequence information, to be accompanied by fair benefit-sharing.

In addition, the government also encourages efforts to ensure international regulations on data standards and interoperability, where Indonesia has initiated a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) for avian influenza virus specimens.

Furthermore, the Indonesian government is pushing for the establishment of One Health instruments to regulate human, animal, and environmental health comprehensively that can be implemented by developing countries with the support of developed countries.

Next, the Indonesian government is advocating for fair technology transfer for public health needs. This technology transfer can be utilized by the Indonesian government and developing countries to become a hub in building local manufacturing capacity to create self-sufficiency in the production of vaccines, therapies, and diagnostics (VTD).