Strengthening global health and international pandemic response

About global health reforms

We work closely with the global health community, including the World Health Organization (WHO), to improve the health and wellbeing for all people worldwide.

Global health reforms aim to:

strengthen international responses to pandemics and other health emergencies
improve global health.

Taking part in these reforms helps to protect the health and wellbeing of Australians.

Australian sovereignty and global health reforms

Global health reforms do not affect Australia’s sovereignty to determine its domestic health policies, including public health and safety measures such as:

border control measures
use of masks and vaccines.

For more information, see impacts on domestic Australian law.

Changes to International Health Regulations

The International Health Regulations (IHR):

help protect the health of the global community
support prompt responses to health emergencies that could impact countries, including Australia.

At the 77^th World Health Assembly in May 2024, the 194 Member States of the WHO agreed to adopt targeted amendments to the IHR put forward by the Working Group on Amendments to the IHR (WGIHR). The Australian Government actively participated in the WGIHR to advocate for our interests and priorities. The agreed IHR amendments are available on the WHO website.

On 19 September 2025, the IHR amendments entered into force for Australia.

These changes will:

build capacity of each country to prepare for and respond to health emergencies;
strengthen public health response measures, including equitable access to health products needed to respond to global public health emergencies;
improve information sharing and early responses to disease outbreaks; and
strengthen countries’ implementation of the IHR.

New international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to strengthen the international community’s response to future pandemics.

WHO Member States established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) in December 2021. The INB's role was to draft a new international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (the Pandemic Agreement).

At the 77^th World Health Assembly in May 2024, the Assembly noted that strong progress had been achieved on the Pandemic Agreement, however further work was needed to ensure the world was better prepared for pandemics. WHO Member States agreed to continue negotiations and finalise the Pandemic Agreement by May 2025.

On 20 May 2025, following over three years of negotiations, the 78th World Health Assembly adopted the Pandemic Agreement. Further information is available on the WHO website.

The Pandemic Agreement establishes new international rules to strengthen international cooperation for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response that will:

Improve access to vaccines and other health products to respond to pandemics
Strengthen multi-sectoral disease surveillance, including by integrating a One Health approach for pandemic prevention
Enhance health system resilience to better position countries to respond to future pandemics
Strengthen cooperation on research and development including the production of health products.

While the Pandemic Agreement has been adopted by the World Health Assembly, steps remain to finalise the technical and operational details of a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) System, to be included as an annex to the Pandemic Agreement. The Pandemic Agreement will not enter into force until the PABS Annex has been agreed.

Negotiations on the PABS Annex will be WHO Member State-led and commenced in July 2025 under a newly established Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the Pandemic Agreement. WHO Member States have agreed to report to the 79th World Health Assembly in May 2026 on the outcome of PABS Annex negotiations.

Australia will engage in these negotiations to advance our interests and ensure the PABS System helps the international community better prepare for future pandemics.

Australia will commence its domestic treaty making process after the Pandemic Agreement opens for signature, which is not expected until at least mid-2026.

Australia’s goals and priorities

The Australian Government’s engagement in multilateral global health organisations allows us to advocate for international rules, norms and standards in the interests of the health and wellbeing of the Australian community. We know certain health threats are more likely to arise overseas. International cooperation, guided by international rules, norms and standards, is critical for Australia to be able to monitor and respond to these challenges.

Australia is committed to strengthening the global health system to prevent and respond to future pandemics by:

Building on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
Welcoming the adoption of the new Pandemic Agreement and taking part in negotiations on the PABS Annex.

Australia's engagement in the Pandemic Agreement and PABS Annex negotiation processes has been guided by the following principles:

Ensure support can be provided to countries to effectively respond to health challenges.
Better position Australia, our region, and the international community to prevent pandemics.
Maintain Australia’s sovereignty to make and implement decisions to protect the health of Australians.
Promote fairness, advance gender equality, and uphold human rights.
Support engagement with private and civil society stakeholders.
Ensure alignment with other relevant international agreements.
Uphold intellectual property rights.

Australia advocates for the below priorities:

Enhanced global, regional and national health capacities to better position the international community to respond to pandemics.
Enhanced sharing of information and materials on diseases with pandemic potential.
Equitable and timely access to health emergency countermeasures, such as vaccines, medicines and personal protective equipment.
A One Health approach: recognising that the interconnected relationship between human, animal and environmental health should guide pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Enhanced WHO’s ability to assess and respond rapidly to outbreaks.
Strengthened national and global investment in health emergency prevention and preparedness.
Effective governance, accountability, and compliance mechanisms to support the implementation of the Pandemic Agreement.

Who we work with

To achieve these goals, we and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) are working with:

other Australian Government agencies
state and territory governments
the Australian public and interest groups
the international community
multilateral groups and organisations, including WHO and the G20.

Impacts on domestic Australian law

Signing the Pandemic Agreement and the targeted amendments to the IHR may create new international legal obligations for Australia. However, this will not automatically change Australian law. As with all Australian laws, changes can only be made by an act of the Australian Parliament and not by an international treaty or agreement.

The Australian Parliament will consider both processes before Australia takes binding action. This includes consideration by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT).

The Government tabled the IHR amendments in Parliament on 4 November 2024 in accordance with Australia’s treaty-making process. The IHR amendments were re-referred to JSCOT in July 2025, after the previous inquiry lapsed at the dissolution of the House of Representatives in March 2025. The amendments to the IHR entered into force on 19 September 2025, 12 months after the WHO formally notified Member States, including Australia, of the changes.

In due course, JSCOT will also consider the Pandemic Agreement, once it opens for signature following the World Health Assembly adoption of the PABS Annex.

JSCOT invites submissions from stakeholders and members of the public, as part of its inquiry into proposed international instruments. Between 18 November 2024 to 23 January 2025, JSCOT invited submissions on the IHR amendments. JSCOT may also invite those who made a submission to participate in a public hearing. For the Pandemic Agreement, information on how to be involved in JSCOT’s consideration of that treaty will be available at Joint Standing Committee on Treaties at the relevant time.

After JSCOT’s consideration, if the Australian Government proposes changes to Australian law, to support treaty implementation, these will be considered and passed by the Australian Parliament in the same way as any other Commonwealth legislation. Learn more about the:

Consultation

The Australian Government will continue to work with government agencies, state and territory governments, interest groups and academia to inform our negotiating position for the PABS Annex and ensure they align with Australia’s priorities.

Between 7 August and 24 September 2023, in partnership with DFAT, we invited the Australian community and key stakeholders to provide their views on:

what they wanted to see in the new Pandemic Agreement
the amended IHR to inform Australia’s engagement in negotiations.

For more information, see the report containing a summary of the key themes of the submissions received.

Key dates

These new reforms are underway. To date, key milestones include:

December 2021 – the WHO Member States established the INB
February 2022 – first meeting of the INB
November 2022 – first meeting of the WGIHR
February 2023 – WGIHR Review Committee Report published
May - June 2024 – 77^th World Health Assembly adopted the targeted amendments to the IHR and agreed a path forward to finalise negotiations on the Pandemic Agreement by the 78^th World Health Assembly in May 2025, or earlier if possible, in 2024.
November 2024 – The Government tabled the IHR amendments and National Interest Analysis in Parliament in accordance with Australia’s treaty-making process. JSCOT commenced its inquiry and invited public submissions (18 November 2024 to 23 January 2025), more than 300 public submissions were received.
May 2025 – 78^th World Health Assembly adopted the Pandemic Agreement and established the IGWG to negotiate a PABS Annex and report to the 79^th World Health Assembly in May 2026, as well as undertake preparatory work ahead of implementation of the Pandemic Agreement.
July 2025 – first meeting of the IGWG to negotiate a PABS Annex
July 2025 – re-referral of the IHR amendments to JSCOT to complete its inquiry (following the dissolution of the House of Representatives in March 2025 due to the caretaker period).
September 2025 – IHR amendments entered into force.