Negotiating Equity

Politics underlie technical rules. This is a story of how 194 member states of the World Health Organization came together to strengthen the rules that govern health emergencies.These intergovernmental negotiations showcase the role of politics in shaping the outcomes for public health.Many believed that the International Health Regulations (2005), had failed to protect the world from the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries set about establishing a process to amend the rules to make them more fit for purpose. The negotiations unfolded in Geneva, Switzerland at the headquarters of the World Health Organization, where 196 State Parties to the IHR came together to negotiate the amendments in a highly political and fairly contested discussions that lasted for three years. In June 2024, countries adopted these amended rules with the objective to respond to health emergencies more equitably in the future. The book is a compilation of more than 35 stories that were reported over a period of three years during 2021-2024 ensuing the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on extensive and regular interviews by hustling diplomats for intelligence, combining on-the-ground presence, and direct references to evolving negotiated texts during this period, this reportage is a product of old-fashioned journalistic methods that captured dynamics in the negotiations, and pieced together closed-door technical discussions. This is also a story of team work, astute behind-the-scenes diplomacy, as much as it is about leading from the front, in a complex environment of biting political interests and competing objectives.