03/11/2025
🌍 Today is One Health Day — a reminder that the health of people, animals, and our shared environment are deeply interconnected.
On this day, the World Veterinary Association (WVA) reaffirms its commitment to the One Health approach and is pleased to be present at the Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
Following the agreement reached in May, the IGWG has been tasked with developing an annex to the Pandemic Agreement on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) System. This system aims to ensure safe, transparent, and accountable access and benefit-sharing for PABS materials and sequence information — a vital step in improving global preparedness and response to future pandemics.
Today marks the start of the IGWG’s work on drafting this important annex.
🔹 Statement from the WVA give by WVA Councillor Dr Mark Schipp:
“From a veterinary and One Health perspective, we stress the importance of ensuring that the PABS System remains inclusive of the animal health sector, as most emerging pathogens with pandemic potential are zoonotic in origin. Effective pandemic prevention depends on integrating surveillance, research, and benefit-sharing mechanisms across human, animal, and environmental health.
The WVA supports a balanced approach that promotes equitable sharing of benefits while also facilitating timely scientific collaboration and access to samples, sequence data, and countermeasures. Achieving this balance will be critical to building trust, particularly among countries and sectors contributing data and biological materials.”
On this One Health Day, the WVA continues to advocate for collaborative, cross-sectoral action to prevent and prepare for future health threats — ensuring that both human and animal health remain at the heart of global resilience.
