World leaders have renewed their commitment to preventing and preparing for future pandemics at a high-level United Nations meeting, five years after COVID-19 exposed major weaknesses in global health security.
The second United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response was held in New York on September 25, 2026. Governments used the meeting to review progress since the first high-level meeting in 2023 and identify areas where further investment and international cooperation are needed.
The World Health Organization said countries recognised progress in strengthening systems for detecting, preparing for and responding to pandemic threats, while also stressing that preparedness requires sustained political commitment and financing.
Countries renew pandemic preparedness commitments
The meeting focused on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, commonly abbreviated as PPPR.
Governments reaffirmed the need for stronger national health systems, surveillance, early-warning capabilities and international cooperation.
The WHO said leaders stressed that pandemic preparedness should not be treated solely as a health-sector responsibility. Communities, governments and other sectors also need to be involved in preparing for major health emergencies.
The approach reflects lessons from COVID-19, when health emergencies rapidly affected economies, education systems, transport and other areas of society.
The UN meeting therefore treated pandemic preparedness as a broader national and international resilience issue.
Progress has been made since COVID-19
The WHO said several important developments have taken place since the 2023 UN high-level meeting.
These include the adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, amendments to the International Health Regulations and the establishment or expansion of initiatives involving pandemic surveillance, pathogen sharing and regional manufacturing capacity.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement is intended to strengthen international cooperation in preventing and responding to future pandemics.
The International Health Regulations provide an international framework for countries to detect, assess and respond to public-health risks that can cross borders.
Other initiatives include the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, the WHO BioHub System and the Global Health Emergency Corps.
These measures represent institutional changes made since the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, their existence does not mean that all countries have the same level of preparedness.
WHO says major gaps remain
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world remains insufficiently prepared for future pandemics.
Speaking at the high-level meeting, Tedros argued that countries need continued investment in local and national capabilities, resilient health systems and equitable access to medical products and technologies.
He also pointed to the continuing threat from infectious diseases.
The WHO says outbreaks can emerge in different parts of the world and spread across borders, making early detection and rapid response essential.
The organisation has therefore urged governments to maintain preparedness between major health emergencies rather than rebuilding systems only after a crisis begins.
COVID-19 remains a major reference point
The experience of COVID-19 remains central to international pandemic planning.
The WHO said the pandemic caused more than 20 million excess deaths between 2020 and 2023 and reduced the global economy by more than $10 trillion.
The figures are estimates used by the WHO to describe the pandemic’s global impact rather than a count of officially registered COVID-19 deaths alone.
The pandemic also exposed differences between countries in access to vaccines, diagnostics, treatments, protective equipment and healthcare capacity.
Those disparities have influenced negotiations over how the international community should respond to the next major outbreak.
Pathogen sharing remains unresolved
One of the important issues still being negotiated is a system for sharing pathogens and distributing benefits arising from their use.
The proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, known as PABS, is linked to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
The system is intended to facilitate timely sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential while helping ensure that countries providing biological material can benefit from vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other products developed from it.
WHO member states are continuing negotiations on the PABS annex.
The WHO said adoption of the annex at the World Health Assembly in May 2027 is necessary before countries can begin their national consideration of ratifying the Pandemic Agreement.
This means that the broader Pandemic Agreement has not yet completed every step required for implementation.
Equity remains a central issue
Equitable access was another major theme of the meeting.
During COVID-19, countries experienced significant differences in access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostic technologies.
The new preparedness framework seeks to reduce the possibility that similar inequalities will emerge during a future pandemic.
The WHO said leaders emphasised equitable and timely access to vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other essential medical supplies.
For lower-income countries, preparedness therefore involves more than emergency response.
It also involves strengthening laboratories, health workforces, manufacturing capacity and healthcare infrastructure before an outbreak becomes a global emergency.
Local manufacturing is part of the strategy
The WHO has highlighted regional and local manufacturing as another element of stronger pandemic preparedness.
The organisation says new capacities have been developed for manufacturing vaccines, treatments and diagnostics in different regions.
Greater geographical distribution of manufacturing could reduce dependence on a small number of production centres during a global health emergency.
However, manufacturing capacity alone does not guarantee access.
Countries also require financing, regulatory systems, skilled workers, supply chains and mechanisms for distributing products to communities.
Surveillance and early warning remain critical
Pandemic prevention also begins before an outbreak becomes an international emergency.
The WHO has identified surveillance, laboratory capacity and early-warning systems as important components of preparedness.
The organisation has pointed to the need for countries to identify unusual disease patterns quickly and share relevant information through established international systems.
Early detection can provide governments with more time to investigate an outbreak, isolate cases where appropriate, deploy medical resources and coordinate an international response.
The effectiveness of such systems depends partly on countries having sufficient public-health infrastructure before an emergency occurs.
One Health approach gains attention
The meeting also highlighted a One Health approach.
One Health recognises the connections between human health, animal health and the environment.
This is relevant to pandemic prevention because some infectious diseases can move between animals and humans.
The WHO said preventing pandemics requires action before outbreaks occur and that One Health principles should form part of broader preparedness efforts.
The approach therefore extends pandemic planning beyond hospitals and laboratories.
It can involve animal-health surveillance, environmental monitoring, food systems and other areas that influence infectious-disease risks.
Funding remains a major challenge
Sustaining preparedness requires long-term financing.
The UN said the high-level meeting was intended to mobilise political will and investment at national, regional and international levels.
WHO has also repeatedly warned that preparedness cannot depend on temporary funding released only during emergencies.
Health systems require permanent investment in healthcare workers, laboratories, surveillance, primary healthcare and emergency response capabilities.
Financing gaps are particularly important for countries already facing pressure on healthcare budgets.
Pandemic preparedness is not only about COVID-19
The renewed commitments come as countries continue to deal with other outbreaks and infectious-disease threats.
The WHO has highlighted recent outbreaks including Ebola, mpox, cholera and hantavirus as reminders that health emergencies can arise outside the context of COVID-19.
This means preparedness systems need to work across different diseases rather than being designed for a single pathogen.
A future pandemic could also involve a disease with different characteristics from SARS-CoV-2.
The ability to detect unfamiliar threats is therefore an important part of global health security.
The declaration still needs implementation
The UN meeting produced political commitments, but implementation will depend on national and international action.
The UN said the high-level meeting was designed to approve an action-oriented political declaration agreed through intergovernmental negotiations.
The declaration calls for continued work on preparedness, prevention, response capacity, equity and international cooperation.
Political declarations do not automatically create new healthcare infrastructure or guarantee financing.
Governments must translate the commitments into national policies, budgets, legislation, training and operational capabilities.
What happens next
The next major milestone is the continuing negotiation of the PABS annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
WHO member states are expected to continue those discussions with the aim of reaching agreement ahead of the May 2027 World Health Assembly.
Countries will also need to continue implementing the amended International Health Regulations and strengthening their domestic preparedness systems.
The effectiveness of the global framework will therefore depend partly on what happens between international meetings.
A renewed commitment, but not a finished system
As of September 27, 2026, governments have renewed their political commitment to pandemic prevention and preparedness, and the international system has gained several new tools since COVID-19.
But the WHO says significant gaps remain.
The outstanding challenges include sustainable financing, stronger health systems, surveillance, trained health workers, equitable access to medical products and agreement on the remaining elements of the Pandemic Agreement.
The September 25 meeting therefore represents another stage in the development of global pandemic preparedness rather than the completion of that process.
The central test will be whether governments maintain investment and cooperation during the years when there is no global pandemic dominating public attention.
Community
Comments
Keep discussion respectful and relevant. Comments never affect rewards.
No comments yet. Start a respectful conversation.