THE World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Saturday that member countries had approved new steps to improve global preparedness for and response to pandemics like Covid-19 and mpox.

Countries agreed by consensus to amend the International Health Regulations (IHR), which were last changed in 2005, such as by defining the term “pandemic emergency” and helping developing countries to gain better access to financing and medical products, the WHO said.

The move came as the United Nations agency ended its six-day World Health Assembly, after plans to adopt a more sweeping pandemic treaty at the meeting were shelved.

The disagreement of the new treaty was largely between developing countries and richer ones over better sharing of technology and the pathogens that trigger outbreaks.

But countries agreed to complete negotiations on the pandemic accord within the year “at the latest,” the WHO said.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The success of the IHR amendments demonstrates that in our divided and divisive world, countries can still come together to find common cause and common ground.”

Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University, Washington DC, hailed a “big win for health security.”

The WHO said countries have defined a pandemic emergency as a communicable disease that has a “wide geographical spread” or a high risk of one, and has exceeded or can exceed the ability of national health systems to respond.

It’s also defined as an outbreak that has or could cause “substantial” economic or social disruption and requires quick international action, the agency said.

WHO legal officer Steven Solomon said that the move to revise the health regulations does not take effect immediately, but will come into force a year after Dr Ghebreyesus formally notifies countries of the decision.

Yuanqiong Hu, a senior legal and policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said that the changes adopted Saturday include “important provisions addressing equity in access to health products during global health emergencies.”