UN meeting calls for sustained investment, global cooperation and equitable access to vaccines and other health tools as countries work to close gaps exposed by COVID-19.
By Bunmi Yekini
Political leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday renewed their commitment to strengthening global defences against future pandemics, calling for sustained investment, international cooperation and more equitable access to essential health products.
The commitments were made at the second UN General Assembly high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR), held three years after the first meeting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Countries said pandemic preparedness should not be treated as a health issue alone, but should involve governments, communities and sectors including animal and environmental health.
They pointed to progress since 2023, including adoption of the World Health Organization’s Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations, as well as expanded capacity for disease surveillance, pathogen sharing and local production of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.
But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries needed to maintain the momentum and investment required to prepare for future threats.
COVID-19 was linked to more than 20 million excess deaths between 2020 and 2023 and caused more than $10 trillion in losses to the global economy, Tedros said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated the fault lines of global health security, and taught the world many painful lessons,” Tedros told the meeting.
He said countries needed to strengthen local and national capacities, invest in resilient health systems and expand equitable access to health products and resources.
A major focus of the meeting was negotiations over an annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement establishing a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system.
The proposed system is intended to facilitate rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential while ensuring that countries and communities benefit from vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other products developed from those pathogens.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, speaking on behalf of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urged countries to accelerate negotiations on the PABS system.
“There is no time to waste,” Mohammed said, calling for the agreement to be completed.
The PABS annex is expected to be considered at the World Health Assembly in May 2027. Its adoption would allow WHO member states to begin national processes for ratifying the Pandemic Agreement.
The political declaration adopted at the meeting also stressed the importance of a “One Health” approach, which recognises the links between human, animal and environmental health in preventing and responding to pandemics.
Khalilur Rahman, president of the 81st UN General Assembly, said stronger health systems, financing and timely access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments were needed to protect communities from future pandemics.
The meeting also highlighted persistent financing gaps and the need for long-term investment in early warning systems, health infrastructure and technology.
ECOSOC President Amar Bendjama said pandemic preparedness was important to achieving the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and required integrated and adequately financed action.
The leaders said pandemic prevention and preparedness should remain a political priority between outbreaks, rather than receiving attention only during health emergencies.