DESCRIPTION

The Global Health Centre invites you to join a webinar on how access to health products is being negotiated amidst the ongoing Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) epidemic and potential implications for the design of the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex.

Over the past several months, the BVD epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has grown faster than any previous Ebola outbreak, with cases also detected in neighboring Uganda, as well as Germany and France. WHO declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in May 2026. With no approved vaccines or therapeutics for BVD and limited diagnostics, ongoing efforts are focusing on assessing the potential of existing products approved for other strains of Ebola, and testing new candidates. As negotiations towards the PABS Annex are poised to resume, what do efforts to advance research and development (R&D), including clinical trials, and to secure equitable access to products for BVD imply for the construction of a future PABS system?

The webinar will begin with an overview of developments and agreements on product R&D and access, followed by a Q&A session with representatives from invited organizations.

SPEAKERS

• Carmen Pérez Casas, Senior Strategy Lead & Pandemic Preparedness & Response Head, Unitaid

• Emma Wheatley, Executive Director, Access and Business Development, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)

• Julia Barnes-Weise, Executive Director, Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance Accelerator (GHIAA)

Moderated by Suerie Moon, Professor of Practice, International Relations & Political Science Department and Director, Global Health Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute