Health Action international (HAI) welcomes the opportunity to address INB 7 and note positively the new draft made available for bureau.

We applaud the efforts of the co-facilitators of the informal negotiations but wonder why the outcomes of those talks have not overall been taken into consideration, especially those regarding proposals aimed at ensuring a more equitable distribution of knowledge and data.

We welcome the commitment to transparency and support for IP waivers but remain concerned about the lack of enforceable clauses regarding technology transfer and benefit sharing. In addition, we believe that without a robust and sustainable financing mechanism, any attempt at a concerted response, beyond ad-hoc actions and limited interventions, will fail.

While INB 7, the Second World Local Production Forum is taking place in the Netherlands, addressing some of the same challenges being discussed today; in both instances participation and contribution from Civil Society is both curtailed and limited.

The INB process was supposed to provide a response to the failure of the pandemic response. Even though for many the sense of emergency has seemingly diminished, time is running out. We urge the parties, particularly European Union member states, to constructively engage in finding common ground upon which build an equitable approach to pandemic preparedness, prevention and response. 

We remain at the disposal of the Bureau, governments, and fellow public-interest Civil Society organisations to collaborate on a substantive document that meets the expectations.

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November 2023 | Download PDF