Uhuru honoured for pivotal role in securing WHO Pandemic Agreement

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has been named among world leaders honoured by the World Health Organization (WHO) for their role in the historic adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement.

Uhuru was recognised at a special ceremony held on July 10, 2025, at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The event celebrated the commitment and leadership of current and former heads of state and government who helped guide the world toward a stronger, fairer response to future pandemics.

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“The adoption by the World Health Assembly of the Pandemic Agreement was a historic moment in global health. But we would not have reached that moment without sustained political advocacy from the highest levels,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said.

Uhuru was recognised alongside presidents and prime ministers from Albania, Costa Rica, Croatia, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Republic of Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Pandemic Agreement

According to WHO, the agreement, which Uhuru played a key role in securing, represents a global commitment to a more robust international health architecture, one that is grounded in equity, cooperation, and shared responsibility.

Political momentum behind the Agreement was galvanised in part by a commentary published in major international outlets in 2021, in which 25 heads of state and international organisations called for a pandemic treaty.

The WHO Pandemic Agreement is the second international legal agreement negotiated under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution, the first being the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which was adopted in 2003 and entered into force in 2005.

It sets out the principles, approaches, and tools for better international coordination across a range of areas to strengthen the global health architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. This includes equitable and timely access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

This aligns with the recent speech delivered on behalf of Uhuru by former First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at the at Amref International University (AMIU) graduation, where he emphasised the need for African countries to build capacity to tackle pandemics.

“We had to re-strategise as a country and as a continent about the importance of having our own research laboratories, vaccine innovation, and manufacturing facilities. I believe if we had built our own capacity within our continent, we would not have been left at the mercy of the Western world,” he remarked.

According to the agreement, pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in the PABS system will play a key role in equitable and timely access to pandemic-related health products by making available to WHO “rapid access targeting 20 per cent of their real-time production of safe, quality and effective vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for the pathogen causing the pandemic emergency.”

The distribution of these products to countries will be carried out on the basis of public health risk and need, with particular attention to the needs of developing countries.

The Pandemic Agreement was formally adopted by consensus in May 2025 during the 78th World Health Assembly. It followed over three years of talks launched after the COVID-19 crisis exposed global gaps and inequalities in health responses.

The agreement aims to boost global cooperation, ensure fair access to vaccines and treatments, and improve readiness for future health threats.

Global praise for champions

Uhuru Kenyatta joins leaders from 25 countries including the United Kingdom, France, South Africa, and Indonesia, who received certificates of recognition. Special plaques were also given to the representatives of Chile and Tunisia, whose leaders championed the agreement from the start.

“Now that the Agreement has been brought to life, we must all act with the same urgency to implement its critical elements, including systems to ensure equitable access to life-saving pandemic-related health products,” said Dr Teodoro Herbosa, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Health, and President of this 2025’s World Health Assembly, who presided over the Agreement’s adoption. 

“As COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency, the WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build on lessons learned from that crisis and ensure people worldwide are better protected if a future pandemic emerges.”

The WHO Pandemic Agreement sets the foundation for better international coordination, without interfering with national sovereignty. It also includes next steps such as setting up systems for sharing health products and negotiating how to fairly access disease samples.

With this recognition, Uhuru Kenyatta’s name now stands alongside other key global figures who helped shape a safer and more united global health future.