Policy Makers Harnessed Science, Technology, and Intellectual Property for Global Health in 2024

2024 has been an important year in international global governance, particularly for global health. From the United Nations General Assembly’s Summit of the Future to the landmark Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the global community has made significant advances in addressing challenges that impact human well-being.

In 2024, the international community took bold steps to address pressing global challenges, from tackling health crises to closing the digital divide. Through initiatives like the Summit of the Future and the Political Declaration on the High-Level Meeting on AMR, countries have agreed on the importance of fostering innovation, improving access to healthcare, and ensuring that technology benefits all.

Building on momentum

These developments sustain the momentum generated in the final months of 2023, with the United Nations General Assembly at the forefront of driving health-related mandates.

In September 2023, the UN held a high-level meeting on universal health coverage (UHC). This meeting aimed to accelerate progress toward UHC, including access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.

The meeting resulted in a political declaration which  underscores, inter alia, that IP protection is important in the development of new medicines (Para 72), highlights the importance of transfer of technology and know-how on mutually agreed terms (Para 106), and encourages research, innovation and commitments to voluntary licensing (Para 74).  

A month later, in October 2023, a political declaration of the high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis was agreed by the United Nations General Assembly. Amongst other issues, the declaration recalled the central role of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) and reaffirmed the 2001 World Trade Organization Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (Para 70 ). The TRIPS Agreement is central to the fight against tuberculosis as it reinforces the flexibility of IP rules in facilitating access to essential medicines.
It further noted the importance of developing local and regional manufacturing capacities for health technologies and encouraged open innovation approaches, voluntary licensing, and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms (Para 72).

Summit of the Future

The Summit of the Future was a high-level event held at the United Nations in New York in September 2024. It focused on forging a new international consensus on delivering a better present and safeguarding the future. On September 22, 2024, countries adopted the Pact for the Future and its annexes, the Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations.

The Pact of the Future

The Pact of the Future focuses on leveraging science and technology to address global challenges while ensuring their benefits are distributed equitably. Member States of the United Nations committed to expanding support for developing countries to strengthen their capacities in science, technology, and innovation (Action 31).

The Pact emphasized aligning technological advancements with human rights (Action 32), promoting gender equality (Action 33), and protecting Indigenous and traditional knowledge (Action 34).
These priorities reflect the importance of integrating diverse perspectives into global progress. To achieve these goals, the United Nations committed to enhancing its role in fostering international collaboration in science, technology, and innovation (Action 35).

The Global Digital Compact

The Global Digital Compact, as part of the annex to the Pact of the Future, laid the groundwork for a more inclusive digital future.

Its principles emphasized fostering innovation and collaboration among governments, businesses, civil society, and international organizations. Central to this effort is the goal of supporting developing countries through financial resources, capacity-building, and technology transfer (Para 8).

The Compact also highlighted the need for increased investment in digital public goods and infrastructure to make digital transformation accessible to all communities (Para 14). By focusing on promoting entrepreneurship among underrepresented groups, it seeks to empower start-ups and small businesses in developing countries, creating new opportunities in global markets (Para 21(i)).

Under a section titled “Commitments and Actions”, the Compact emphasized empowering individuals to control the use of their data, backed by strong legal protections for privacy and IP (Para 38(c)).
With regard to health, the Compact also seeks to map and connect all schools and hospitals to the internet and improve telemedicine services (Para 11 (d)). Further, it aims to create a safe, secure online space that protects mental health and well-being by adopting relevant standards and addressing harmful content (Para 30 (a)).

Declaration of Future Generations

This declaration is also an annex to the Pact of the Future and deals with children and the future generation. A clean, sustainable environment is highlighted as a goal. The declaration, therefore, requires urgent action to combat climate change and promote environmental protection (Principle 5).
It further notes that responsible and ethical use of science, technology, and innovation, guided by equity and solidarity, is essential to bridge global divides and foster inclusive development and digital cooperation (Principle 6).

Political Declaration on AMR

In October 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on AMR to address the growing threat of drug-resistant infections. Recognizing AMR as one of the most urgent global health crises, Members States pledged to ensure equitable access to medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics.

This includes commitments to transferring technology and fostering innovation to enhance local manufacturing capacities, particularly in regions where healthcare resources are limited (Para 87).
Governments also agreed to promote the development of research strategies and innovation programs and their integration into national action plans on AMR, taking into consideration national contexts.

Furthermore, efforts were made to expand connectivity in healthcare, including mapping and connecting schools and hospitals to the internet to improve telemedicine services (Para 11(d)).

In November 2024, the Jeddah Commitments were adopted at the 4th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance. The document provides clarity on specific mechanisms and agreements to translate the Political Declaration on AMR into action.

One of the commitments includes strengthening national and regional life sciences and biotechnology to drive innovation in novel medicines, vaccines, and sustainable manufacturing. These efforts aim to reduce antimicrobial use and improve waste management (Para 10).

Overall, these commitments offer an opportunity to accelerate political action on AMR based on the One Health approach. One Health is an integrated, unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals and ecosystems.

According to the WHO: “This approach is particularly important for AMR because resistant organisms can spread quickly through health-care facilities, animals, food and the environment (soil and water), making the treatment of certain infections in people and animals more challenging, and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.”

Revisions to the International Health Regulations

The International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) is an instrument of international law that is legally-binding on 196 countries. The IHRs aim to strengthen global health security by requiring countries to detect, assess, report, and respond to public health emergencies that could cross borders. They establish guidelines for managing health risks such as infectious disease outbreaks, ensuring cooperation, transparency, and rapid action to prevent international spread.

New amendments to the IHR were agreed by Member States at the WHO in June 2024, including the introduction of a definition of a “pandemic emergency,” which will be triggered during crises with high risk of global spread, and which have the potential to overwhelm health systems and result in significant social or economic disruptions (Article 1).

Additionally, the amendments also establish a States Parties Committee to enhance cooperation among nations and establish National IHR Authorities to improve coordination and implementation of the regulations within and across countries.

Revisions to the IHR took place in parallel to the on-going negotiations on WHO Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Accord, which will continue in 2025.  

The year ahead

The momentum is set to continue through 2025. One of the major events will be the 4th High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), which is expected to be convened in 2025.

Overall, these international commitments showcase a shared commitment to addressing global challenges through collaboration, innovation, and highlighting the need for access. Turning these ambitious commitments into action will require sustained political will, resource mobilization, innovation and or course action.  As Member States work to deliver on these promises, WIPO’s Global Health Unit is ready to support these efforts, leveraging expertise in IP, innovation, and capacity-building from across WIPO to help ensure that the benefits of progress towards global health goals reach everyone everywhere.