Introduction
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) is pleased to share the below statement ahead of several key meetings in the upcoming two weeks that aim to end the current pandemic and prepare the world for the next. In October 2021, the GPMB called for world leaders to take urgent actions to demonstrate their commitment to strengthening pandemic preparedness and response and address the profound inequities and divisions that have characterised this pandemic. The GPMB reiterates its call for renewed global commitment to six solutions for a safer world, made in our most recent 2021 report ‘From Worlds Apart to a World Prepared’. These six solutions are the building blocks for a long-term, sustainable and equitable approach to global preparedness and response. We are only now beginning to see the fallouts from lack of socio-economic planning in pandemic preparedness. It will be crucial to ensure that these solutions are multisectoral and help mitigate the socioeconomic impact and build multisectoral resilience.
Statement
In October 2021, the GPMB called for world leaders to take five urgent actions to demonstrate their commitment to strengthening pandemic preparedness and response and address the profound inequities and divisions that have characterised this pandemic.
The GPMB has tracked progress on these five actions and has found the response by leaders to be inadequate; progress has been patchy, limited, and slow. Geopolitical divides between north and south, east and west continue to block the bold and urgent global actions needed to end this pandemic, leaving the world unprepared for the next global health crisis.
The Board was encouraged by the decision of the World Health Assembly to establish an intergovernmental negotiating body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. But there is a long way to go, and negotiations will not be easy if this instrument is to have the impact theworld needs.
The GPMB was also encouraged by proposals to substantially increase resources for pandemic preparedness and response by establishing a new Financial Intermediary Fund at the World Bank. While the GPMB welcomes the initiative taken by the Joint G20 Finance & Health Task Force to consider these proposals, the GPMB reiterates the importance of inclusivity in these discussions, and the need for new resources to be truly additional and based on a burden sharing approach among all countries.
The GPMB is deeply disappointed that the WHO Executive Board was not able to reach an on agreement on increasing assessed contributions for WHO. Such an increase will ensure that the WHO’s core functions and capacities are adequately and sustainably financed. Discussions will continue in the WHO Working Group on Sustainable Financing in the lead up to the World Health Assembly in May, where a decision will be made.
Despite the recent review of the ACT Accelerator, there appears to have been little progress in developing terms of reference for the design of an end-to-end mechanism for research, development and equitable access to vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, and other common goods. Nor has there been any response to the GPMB’s call for a Summit of Heads of State and Government, together with other stakeholders, to adopt a political declaration that lays out a collective approach to pandemic preparedness and response, with equity at its core.
2022 will be a pivotal year for pandemic preparedness and response. Leaders must make bold decisions if the world is to break the cycle of panic and neglect in which it is currently trapped. The GPMB therefore remains gravely concerned at the lack of consensus in the major fora that are responsible for making these decisions and taking these actions. The GPMB reiterates its call for renewed global commitment to six solutions for a safer world, made in its 2021 report ‘From Worlds Apart to a World Prepared’:
- Strengthen global governance; adopt an international agreement on health emergency preparedness and response and convene a Summit of Heads of State and Government, together with other stakeholders, on health emergency preparedness and response.
- Build a strong WHO with greater resources, authority, and accountability.
- Create an agile health emergency system that can deliver on equity through better information sharing and an end-to-end mechanism for research, development and equitable access to common goods.
- Establish a collective financing mechanism for preparedness to ensure more sustainable, predictable, flexible, and scalable financing.
- Empower communities and ensure engagement of civil society and the private sector.
- Strengthen independent monitoring and mutual accountability
In the coming months, the GPMB will continue to advocate for these actions. It will focus its efforts on developing an independent monitoring framework to provide a multisectoral, evidence-based overview of the state of global preparedness and response.
This will enable leaders to more accurately pinpoint key roadblocks that prevent the global health emergency ecosystem from becoming more efficient and agile, and guide the steps needed to address them. It will enable the world to hold them to account for their decisions and actions.
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About the GPMB
As an independent monitoring and advocacy body, the GPMB urges political action to prepare for and mitigate the effects of global health emergencies. Co-convened by the World Bank Group and the WHO, the GPMB works independently to provide expert assessments and recommendations on the state of global preparedness. The opinions and recommendations of the GPMB are those of the Board and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group and WHO.
For further details please visit https://www.gpmb.org/ or contact the GPMB secretariat at: gpmbsecretariat@who.int.