To PSI Affiliates,

Many of you actively joined the international TRIPS Waiver campaign for more equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines through a suspension of pharmaceutical companies’ monopoly over production, at the World Trade Organisation. The loud, collective voices echoing the issue has resulted in some of the concerns to be reflected in the draft of the new international instrument for the prevention, preparation and response to pandemics (informally known as the pandemic treaty) of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The pandemic treaty negotiation process is an opportunity to concretise and strengthen these initial gains that resulted from your contributions. NOW, more than ever, we need your continued engagement on this process of the pandemic treaty negotiations to fill substantial gaps in other areas as well such as decent work for health and care workers.  

The starting draft of the pandemic treaty (known as the Zero Draft) for member states to negotiate on was published on 1 February. In many ways, it reflects the strengths and gaps of the conceptual draft we had analysed in December 2022. Government delegations will initiate negotiations in Geneva from 27 February through 3 March 2023 as the International Negotiating Body (INB) meets for the fourth time (INB4). This will be followed by another round of negotiations from 3 to 5 April (INB5). 

Despite our repeated demands for the process to be transparent and allow unions and civil society organisations to be observers, several countries are calling for these negotiations to be carried out behind closed doors. While it is not yet clear if this is the case, we will keep you updated.

To continue to push for the instrument to deliver on the concerns of health and care workers, it is important that unions bring attention to the voice of labour at the start of the negotiations on the zero draft and keep the momentum between INB4 and INB5. 

This is why we call on you to:

• Write to your government to raise your concerns. We have prepared this model letter you can adapt to your context.

• Take an appointment with your ministry of health after INB4 to share your views and ask them their position on key issues towards INB5. We will share bullet points for this discussion. 

• Let us know about your meeting so that we can better prepare for INB5 together!

• You can find a briefing note on the negotiation process and key background information (coming soon)

• We are now releasing our interactive online documentary “Behind the Mask” - featuring four frontline stories from health workers across the world. Check them out and share them in your networks and through social media. You can use our social media tool kit for messages for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

We look forward to your intervention and please contact Pedro Villardi, Ananya Basu, Susana Barria, or Baba Aye for any queries on these actions.

• ananya.basu@world-psi.org

• pedro.villardi@world-psi.org

• susana.barria@world-psi.org

• baba.aye@world-psi.org