Health leader forges treaty with song and science

Precious Matsoso of South Africa led negotiations for a new pandemic treaty by appealing to delegates’ shared humanity, sometimes by singing Beatles songs during tense discussions in Geneva.

For three years, Matsoso co-chaired the International Negotiating Body for the WHO Pandemic Agreement, advocating for equitable access to health products and local manufacturing, especially for African countries who faced shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She distilled the treaty’s aim as “a collective refusal to repeat the devastation and inequities” seen during the recent crisis. Matsoso’s career spans 30 years of health policy work, beginning as a pharmacist in South Africa and expanding to leadership roles within the national health department and the World Health Organization. She shaped South Africa’s medicine landscape during the HIV/AIDS crisis, refusing to register a dangerous and unproven treatment and approving access to crucial antiretroviral drugs.

She also navigated early negotiations with the US regarding Pepfar, insisting on a focus on HIV/AIDS rather than political disputes. Currently heading the Health Regulatory Science Platform at the University of the Witwatersrand, Matsoso credits her success to patience, faith, and a childhood filled with both music and science in Soweto.

She continues to support an orphanage in Atteridgeville, demonstrating a commitment to social responsibility alongside her global health work, and the final section of the pandemic treaty, pathogen access and benefit sharing, remains a key test for global health equity.