Ebola Outbreak Adds Urgency to Finishing the WHO Pandemic Agreement: Why the PABS Annex Matters
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged countries to "finish the job" of completing the WHO Pandemic Agreement, calling it a matter of "protecting people".
He spoke as the ninth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) opened in Geneva on 2 November 2026 (scheduled for 2–13 November). The IGWG is negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex, which he called "the last remaining piece of our puzzle".
The Pandemic Agreement was adopted in May 2025, but it cannot open for signature and ratification until the PABS annex is finished. The annex missed its first target of May 2026; the new target is the World Health Assembly in May 2027.
He pointed to the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which by late October 2026 had more than 10,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths. WHO declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 17 May 2026.
He noted that Ebola "may not be the next pandemic", but it is a painful reminder that the threat never goes away, and that no country can protect itself from pandemics by acting alone.
WHO Pandemic Agreement: The World's Treaty for the Next Pandemic
The WHO Pandemic Agreement is an international treaty meant to help the world prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics better than it did during COVID-19. A pandemic is a disease outbreak that spreads across many countries and continents. The Agreement's main promise is fairness: when the next pandemic comes, vaccines, medicines and tests should reach poor countries too, not only rich ones. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2025, but one key part, the PABS annex, is still being negotiated.
The WHO chief used the 2026 Ebola outbreak to push countries at the ninth IGWG meeting to finish the PABS annex. Until it is done, the Pandemic Agreement cannot be ratified, and the world's fair-sharing system for vaccines and medicines remains only a promise on paper.
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)
Ebola disease is a severe and often deadly illness in humans, caused by a group of viruses called orthoebolaviruses. It spreads between people through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of someone who is sick or has died from it. On average, about half of the people who catch it die, though this has ranged from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks. Most outbreaks have happened in Central and West Africa.
The 2026 outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which no vaccine or approved medicine exists, and it has grown into one of the largest Ebola outbreaks ever recorded. The WHO chief used it to show why the world needs fast, fair sharing of samples and medicines through the Pandemic Agreement.
Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS)
The Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement about a simple question: if a company or scientist takes a plant, animal or microbe from one country and earns money from it, does that country get a share? The Protocol says yes. The user must take permission first (Prior Informed Consent) and must agree on fair terms for sharing benefits (Mutually Agreed Terms). It works under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The idea behind PABS comes from the same principle as the Nagoya Protocol: those who share genetic resources should share in the benefits. PABS would create a faster, special system for dangerous pathogens so that sample-sharing does not get stuck in slow, separate permissions during a pandemic.
- WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted at the 78th WHA, 20 May 2025; enters into force after 60 ratifications
- PABS annex: still under negotiation; ninth IGWG meeting, Geneva, 2–13 November 2026; new target: 80th WHA (May 2027)
- PABS: 20% of real-time production of pandemic products to WHO
- 2026 Ebola outbreak (Bundibugyo virus), DRC and Uganda: PHEIC declared 17 May 2026; over 10,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths in DRC by late October 2026
- Uganda declared its part of the outbreak over in September 2026
- No licensed vaccine or specific treatment for Bundibugyo virus disease
- US formally left WHO on 22 January 2026