The ninth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement has ended in Geneva. Member States reaffirmed that they will finish the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex, known as the PABS annex, in time for the World Health Assembly in May 2027. The annex is meant to set up a system for sharing pathogens with pandemic potential and their genetic sequence data quickly and openly, while making sure that the resulting vaccines, diagnostics and treatments reach countries fairly. The meeting made progress on benefit-sharing inside a legally binding framework and clarified the roles of participating partners. It also discussed access to biological materials and sequence information, and the place of laboratories and other technical partners. Member States agreed to keep up momentum through informal sessions, and formal negotiations are to resume in three rounds in January, February and March 2027.
Meeting:Ninth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group, GenevaDeadline for the annex:World Health Assembly, May 2027Further negotiation rounds:Three, in January, February and March 2027
Why it matters for exams: Gives the expansion of PABS, the working group negotiating it, and the World Health Assembly as the body that must adopt the annex - the frame for every question on the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
PABSPathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing — The system under negotiation for sharing pandemic-potential pathogens and sequence data, and for sharing the benefits that come from them.
IGWGIntergovernmental Working Group — The body of WHO Member States negotiating the annexes to the Pandemic Agreement.
The World Health Organization has published the statement of the forty-sixth meeting of the Polio IHR Emergency Committee, which met by video conference. The committee concluded unanimously that the risk of international spread of polioviruses continues to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and recommended that the Temporary Recommendations be extended by three months. It also concluded unanimously that the event does not amount to a pandemic emergency. The Director-General accepted this assessment, kept the emergency in place for wild poliovirus type 1 and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus, and extended the Temporary Recommendations. Afghanistan, Pakistan and Germany are listed as infected with wild poliovirus type 1. Separate lists cover countries with circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus of types 1, 2 and 3, the type 2 list being the longest. The committee works under the International Health Regulations, which fix what countries must report to WHO.
Meeting:Forty-sixth meeting of the Polio IHR Emergency CommitteeTemporary Recommendations extended by:Three monthsCountries listed with wild poliovirus type 1:Afghanistan, Pakistan and Germany
Why it matters for exams: Fixes what a PHEIC is and who declares it, the two poliovirus categories the emergency covers, the countries still listed with wild poliovirus type 1, and the International Health Regulations the committee works under.
PHEICPublic Health Emergency of International Concern — The highest alert the WHO Director-General can declare under the International Health Regulations.
cVDPVCirculating vaccine-derived poliovirus — A poliovirus strain that comes from the weakened virus in oral polio vaccine and begins to spread in under-immunised communities.
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics has published its November 2026 education data release. It adds more than 1.39 million data points and updates 33 global and thematic indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 4, taking the UIS global education database to 9.7 million data points covering 240 countries and territories. The global upper secondary completion rate has risen from 53 per cent in 2015 to 62 per cent in 2025, but stands at 21 per cent in low-income economies against 90 per cent in high-income economies. Completion data comparing learners with and without disabilities now covers 83 countries and territories, up from 26 earlier in the year, and in most of them learners with disabilities are less likely to finish school, with the gap widening from primary to upper secondary. On bullying, in 37 of 85 education systems at least half of 15-year-old students reported being bullied in the previous twelve months, with an average of 48 per cent across all 85 systems. The release also publishes data for the first time on the revised SDG indicator 4.c.1, the share of teachers with at least a bachelor's degree or equivalent, estimated at 73 per cent of primary teachers worldwide.
Global upper secondary completion rate:62% in 2025, up from 53% in 2015Data points added:More than 1.39 millionCountries and territories covered:240Primary teachers with at least a bachelor's degree:73%
Why it matters for exams: Names the institute that produces the SDG 4 education indicators, the indicator number for qualified teachers, and the global upper secondary completion rate - the figures education questions quote.
Member States of the International Telecommunication Union have elected the directors of its three bureaux at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha, Qatar. Eric Fournier of France was elected to head the Radiocommunication Bureau, Seizo Onoe of Japan was re-elected to the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, and Nele Leosk of Estonia was elected to the Telecommunication Development Bureau. With Leosk's election, two women hold ITU elected management posts at the same time for the first time in the union's history; the other is the Secretary-General. Adel Darwish of Bahrain was elected Deputy Secretary-General, completing the five-member elected leadership team. Member States are also to elect the twelve-member Radio Regulations Board and the member state seats on the forty-eight-seat ITU Council. The ITU is the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies, and the Plenipotentiary Conference is its highest policy-making body.
Why it matters for exams: Names the three ITU bureaux and their newly elected directors, the Deputy Secretary-General, and the size of the Radio Regulations Board and the ITU Council.
ITUInternational Telecommunication Union — The United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies.
Plenipotentiary ConferenceThe highest policy-making body of the ITU — The conference of ITU Member States that elects the union's leadership and sets its direction.