WTO, WHO, WIPO to hold virtual Trilateral Workshop on Accessing and Using Information Resources for the Pandemic Response

February 11, 2022

A virtual workshop jointly organized by the secretariats of the WTO, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on 28 February will provide an overview of select COVID-19-related information resources.

The workshop aims to enhance understanding of the characteristics, potential uses and limitations of select information sources. A range of experts will discuss information resources containing the following types of data: epidemiological and other health-related issues; clinical trials; technological developments; intellectual property rights; and manufacturing and distribution of and access to technologies, as well as vaccination, diagnostics and treatment rates and cross-border flows of technology.

The workshop responds to the needs of, and is targeted at, policymakers and other stakeholders working on health, intellectual property and trade issues related to the pandemic.

The workshop will be held in English only. Provisional program

The workshop is part of the existing collaboration framework between the three organizations, as highlighted by their Directors-General on 15 June. DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, DG Daren Tang and DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala agreed that the three agencies will collaborate on the organization of practical capacity-building workshops at the technical level to enhance the flow of updated information on current developments in the pandemic and responses to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies. The aim of these workshops is to strengthen the capacity of policymakers and experts in members of the three organizations to address the pandemic accordingly. The first workshop on Innovation in, and Access to, COVID-19 Technologies was held on 27 September 2021.