Dr Victor Dzau and our co-chairs,
Distinguished colleagues and friends,
Thank you to South Africa, as well as to the HLIP Co-Chairs and Secretariat, for bringing us together again.
I was pleased to join you in person in Washington D.C. last month, and I’m glad to be with you virtually today.
My thanks also to South Africa for its leadership in reactivating the HLIP at such a critical moment for global health.
At the Munich Security Conference in February this year, I was speaking to a foreign minister about the large increases in defence spending announced by some countries.
He said, “We have to prepare for the worst.”
I said, “I understand, but what about preparing for an attack from an invisible enemy?”
“What do you mean?” he asked me. “What invisible enemy?”
“A pandemic,” I said. “The COVID-19 pandemic killed an estimated 20 million people and wiped more than 10 trillion U.S. dollars from the global economy.”
Countries spend vast sums protecting themselves against attacks from other countries, but relatively little on protecting themselves from an invisible enemy that can cause far more damage.
Although the COVID-19 crisis is over, the virus is still with us, and so are the social, economic and political impacts of the pandemic.
Four years ago, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, this panel released a groundbreaking report that set the foundation for advancing pandemic preparedness and response.
First, it highlighted an annual financing gap of 10.5 billion U.S. dollars. That finding was instrumental in launching the Pandemic Fund in 2022.
Since then – over the past three years – the Fund has awarded 885 million U.S. dollars in grants across 75 countries, helping to mobilize more than 6 billion U.S. dollars in additional public and private resources.
WHO is proud to lead the technical work of the Pandemic Fund and to support countries in developing and executing their proposals.
Second, the report called for stronger cooperation between the finance and health sectors. This contributed directly to the creation of the G20 Joint Finance–Health Task Force during Italy’s G20 Presidency in 2021.
WHO remains firmly committed to supporting this Task Force through our technical expertise and by hosting its Secretariat.
The Task Force is continuing to expand collaboration between the health and finance communities and to develop tools to understand and mitigate the economic risks posed by pandemics.
Important progress has also been made in other areas of pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
In recent years, WHO has launched several initiatives in direct response to the lessons learned from COVID-19. These include the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin; the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa; the Biomanufacturing Workforce Training Hub in the Republic of Korea; the BioHub; the Global Health Emergency Corps; the interim Medical Countermeasures Network; and others.
You are also aware that WHO Member States adopted a package of amendments to strengthen the International Health Regulations.
And at this year’s World Health Assembly in May, they adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement – a truly historic achievement.
Member States are now negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system – the PABS Annex – and we anticipate that these negotiations will conclude ahead of next year’s World Health Assembly, allowing the Pandemic Agreement to be ratified and to take effect as international law.
Much has been accomplished, but major challenges persist. Many health systems remain vulnerable.
Low- and middle-income countries are facing rising debt, shrinking fiscal space, and reductions in development assistance.
Since January, significant cuts in external health funding have made these challenges even more acute. Without timely domestic investment, essential services may be reduced or even stopped.
In this environment, stronger coordination between health and finance is not just helpful – it is indispensable.
We welcome the five recommendations the Panel is presenting: mobilizing domestic resources; ensuring diversified regional access to medical countermeasures; providing at-risk financing for advance procurement; enabling surge financing for diagnostics and PPE; and reinforcing the Pandemic Fund.
This agenda must be closely aligned with the Pandemic Agreement, embedding its financial and operational requirements into practice.
We also support the Panel’s call to broaden financing beyond vaccines. No pandemic response can succeed without prompt and fair access to tests, treatments, and personal protective equipment.
Looking forward, multilateral development banks have a crucial role to play in helping countries act quickly and equitably.
Whether through global reserves, pooled procurement, or regional platforms, our success should be measured by how effectively we reach the last country in need – not just the first.
Dear colleagues and friends,
For too long, the world has operated on a cycle of panic and neglect. We react to a crisis, but when it is over, we fail to learn to its lessons.
After all, there is always a new crisis around the corner.
We must break that cycle.
I began by telling you about my conversation with a foreign minister at the Munich Security Conference in February.
The minister I spoke to agreed that we must strike a balance.
We ask all countries to continue prioritizing pandemic prevention preparedness and response.
Because health security is economic security and social stability.
WHO stands ready to support all Member States as we move toward next year’s High-Level Meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
Let us act with urgency – because, as we all know, the next pandemic is not a question of if, but when.
Thank you.