World Health Organization countries have finally approved a treaty to combat future pandemics, boosting international disease control efforts that are under growing pressure from funding cuts and political rows. 

Member states of the 194-nation global health body conditionally agreed on Tuesday to ensure countries that shared virus samples would receive disease tests, medicines and vaccines, after many poorer nations suffered shortages during the Covid-19 crisis.

The measures to tackle the resource inequities that blighted the global response to Covid-19 come after rich nations have slashed aid budgets and the US has announced it will leave the WHO. The new pandemic treaty will go for ratification by participant countries once an annex on the long-contentious topic of detecting and sharing data on emerging pathogens is agreed.