This working paper examines Kenya’s engagement in the negotiations surrounding the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted by WHO Member States in May 2025. Drawing on Kenya’s longstanding history of health diplomacy, such as its defiance of pharmaceutical lobbying during the 2001 TRIPS Doha Declaration negotiations, and its vocal advocacy against “vaccine apartheid” during COVID-19. The paper traces how Kenya shaped the Agreement’s provisions on equity, pathogen data-sharing, local manufacturing, sustainable financing and the One Health approach.
The paper analyses the implications of the Agreement for Kenya, identifying both opportunities and challenges. Opportunities include new pathways for international research collaboration, reduced dependence on imported medical countermeasures, local vaccine manufacturing and broader economic diversification. The paper examines constraints in the Agreement’s technology transfer provisions (Article 11), unresolved questions in the pathogen access and benefit-sharing framework (Article 12), the disruption caused by the US withdrawal from the WHO and suspension of USAID, and domestic factors, including leadership instability and health system weaknesses, which periodically limited Kenya’s contributions to the negotiating process.
The paper concludes with targeted recommendations for strengthening implementation of Articles 11 and 12, emphasising the need for binding obligations, clearer definitions and concrete support mechanisms for developing countries. It also underscores the significance of Kenya’s continued participation in the ongoing negotiations of the Article 12 PABS Annex, which will determine whether the Agreement’s equity commitments translate into tangible benefits.
Authored by Dr Nelly C. Rotich, Doreen Aoko Abiero, Josephine Kaaniru Reuben, Chebet Koros, and Dr Melissa Omino.
This paper was published under the Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) network, with support from IDRC, SSHRC, and Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund.