Amendments to IHR 2005: Toward Decolonizing International Health Emergency Regime?

The entry into force of the amendments to the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR 2005), on September 19, 2025, represents a pivotal moment in global health emergency governance history. 1 The COVID-19 crisis revealed the inability of both developed and developing nations to protect their populations from the pandemic. Developing nations experienced disproportionate impacts due to insufficient financial resources and manufacturing capacity to obtain necessary health products for pandemic response. 2 The neoliberal emphasis on economic efficiency and enforced trade liberalization through the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework, particularly mandatory product patent protection under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) widened inequities in access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTDs), and increased dependency of developing countries on developed countries for this access. 3