30 July 2026
This week, UN Member States are
considering a proposed final draft of the Political
Declaration for September’s High-Level Meeting on Pandemic
Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR). As
champions of a global system built to prevent pandemic
disasters, we urge them to make urgent, measurable
commitments to prevent, prepare for, and respond to health
emergencies and pandemic threats.
The Co-conveners of
the Friends of the High-Level Meeting acknowledge Member
States for their efforts to negotiate a text that recognizes
key areas of PPPR. The final draft contains positive
language on foundational elements that – fully acted upon
– would lead to a stronger pandemic readiness system,
including:
Welcoming adoption of the Pandemic
Agreement and amendments to the International Health
Regulations (2005) and language on the timely conclusion of
the PABS
negotiations;
Promoting
geographically diversified research, development and
manufacturing of health tools, reference to the 100 days
target for pandemic countermeasures, and equitable access to
them;
Calling out the need for
financing preparedness – including the $US 15 billion
annual gap – the need for surge emergency response, and
operationalizing the Coordinating Financial
Mechanism;
Promoting and
recognizing a One Health approach to prevent spillover of
pathogens from animals to humans and addressing the drivers
of disease outbreaks;
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Stressing the
importance of data, tools and assessments that facilitate
action-oriented plans, and science and evidence-based
monitoring to improve accountability, national capacities,
and to forecast risks for PPPR.
However, as the
process enters its final stage, we urge Member States to use
every opportunity to raise their ambition and translate
political commitments into ‘concrete, measurable and
urgent action’ – as mandated in the draft Political
Declaration.
“At a time when the Ebola Bundibugyo
emergency is now the second largest Ebola outbreak in
history, we need measurable commitments which put effective
multi-sectoral plans into action, serious money on the
table, and ensure real accountability.The ultimate test of
this declaration is simple: will its implementation make the
world measurably safer? Member States have an opportunity
now to ensure that it does.”
– The Right Honourable
Helen Clark, Co-chair of The Independent Panel for Pandemic
Preparedness and Response and a member of The Elders, on
behalf of the Friends’ co-convenors.
Health
emergencies are no longer rare events. Since the
COVID-19 emergency, which led to an estimated 22
million excess deaths, the world has been responding to a
WHO Public Health Emergency of International Concern for
approximately 70% of the time – whether COVID-19, mpox, or
Ebola. The world needs a global system built to ensure
leadership, up-to-date multi-sectoral plans, financing,
access to medical countermeasures, and accountability to
prevent and contain outbreaks before they become
pandemics.
As currently drafted, very few of
the political commitments are linked to concrete,
measurable, and time-bound actions that will make the world
safer from pandemic threats. The Political
Declaration requires an infusion of urgency and ambition.
Examples of areas that must be strengthened include the
following, many of which are reflected in the Friends’ key
asks:
Financing
preparedness and response: The gap in financing
across pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is
recognised, including the specific $US 15bn gap in
preparedness financing. Yet there are no concrete
commitments or timelines to fill this gap, nor to ensure a
pre-agreed, sustainable and sufficiently funded surge
financing mechanism, including for day zero finance. The
complexity and slowness of disbursing funds for the current
Ebola emergency and the question marks around funding for
successful tests, treatments, and vaccines
underscore the dire need for reliable and rapidly
disbursed surge financing. The Friends also recommend a
financing tracker to ensure transparency and identify areas
where gaps persist.
One Health and the
animal and environmental health workforce: Given
more than 70% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are
zoonotic, including the recent mpox, Andes hantavirus
and Ebola Bundibugyo outbreaks, it is crucial to ensure that
national multi-sectoral plans operationalise the widely
adopted One Health approach. While investing in the health
and care workforce is indispensable, failing to strengthen
the capacities of veterinary, animal, and environmental
health services will weaken national capacities to prevent
outbreaks at the earliest stages and risk overwhelming
health systems and their workforces with otherwise
preventable health
emergencies.
Monitoring and
Accountability: While current language recognizes
the need for the WHO to streamline monitoring efforts
including tools, assessments and data, and to strengthen
science- and evidence-based monitoring, it should also
recognize the gaps in current monitoring leaving us blind to
many critical aspects of PPPR, including monitoring of
equitable access to medical countermeasures, operational
readiness, financing, and the social dimensions of
resilience. Given the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board
has presented its final report, Member States must also
urgently determine options for a mechanism to replace it
until a Pandemic Agreement Conference of the Parties is
fully functional.
Follow up on the
Political Declaration: In the current draft, the
Secretary-General’s follow-up report on the Political
Declaration is scheduled for almost five years from now, for
the 85th session of the UNGA (2030/31). This is too late to
follow up on commitments from this meeting, and will take
momentum from an already neglected agenda. The Friends
strongly urge the report to be submitted in three years at
the latest, and that it specifically track progress in key
areas including in financing, equitable access, One Health
implementation, and the implementation of the Pandemic
Agreement. The Friends also urge Member States to make a
decision on the date/time frame for the convening of a third
PPPR HLM.
We urge all Member States to adopt a
Political Declaration with concrete, measurable and urgent
actions – which will be a clear win for multilateralism, for
people, and the planet.
About the
Friends of the PPPR High-Level Meeting:
The
Elders, FOUR PAWS, The Independent Panel for Pandemic
Preparedness and Response and Resilience Action Network
International (rani) are the co-convenors. The Friends
of the PPPR HLM is an informal, time-limited platform for
organisations working to support progress in pandemic PPR
and specifically working to secure a strong political
declaration from the 2026 HLM that contains measurable
commitments.
