Political leaders meeting at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) renewed their commitment to making the world safer from future pandemics, stressing the need for sustained and more equitable investment and action on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR).

The UNGA today held its second High-level Meeting on PPPR, following its first staged in 2023 in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and gaps in global health security. Countries stressed that strengthening PPPR is not a health issue alone – it requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, with involvement of communities and all relevant sectors.

Leaders recognized the progress made in the past three years to strengthen global systems to detect, prepare for and respond to pandemic threats, including adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005). Capacities and infrastructure for PPPR have also been scaled up with the establishment of global centres dedicated to epidemic and pandemic surveillance, sharing of pathogens, and local manufacturing of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.