This month, a report by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response recommended a more independent World Health Organization, a new council that would maintain a political commitment to pandemic preparedness and response, and a financing facility that can disburse $50 billion to $100 billion on short notice.
Speaking at a Devex event on the sidelines of the 74th World Health Assembly, health experts welcomed several of the panel’s recommendations but cautioned that in order to be effective, the proposals would need to be accompanied by high-level political leadership, advance planning, and the inclusion of different stakeholders.
Chandrika Bahadur, director at the SDG Academy, said the report was excellent “both in terms of its breadth but also in terms of the creativity of the recommendations and really going beyond what one would normally expect from a panel of this kind.”