Addressing health equity is key to ensuring better pandemic preparedness, PAHO Director says – PAHO/WHO

Rio de Janeiro, July 30, 2024 (PAHO) – Addressing inequality and ensuring equitable access to health were key issues raised by the Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, during a high-level event at the 2024 Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“We all know that poverty and disease are a vicious circle that we have to break,” said Dr. Barbosa during the event. The state of global pandemic preparedness and response — but “when the health sector functions properly, it can contribute to improving lives and reducing inequality.”

During the event, which included the participation of Joy Phumaphi, Co-Chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, Dr. Barbosa also reinforced the importance of ensuring that equity remains at the center of discussions around the new pandemic agreement.

“The main basis of global disease surveillance is trust,” said the PAHO director. “When a country shares information, data, samples, it expects to receive support,” including access to diagnostic tools, protective equipment, medicines and vaccines. “If we do not meet these expectations, countries will think twice” before sharing.

“Equity is extremely important,” Phumaphi added. “Equity in consultation, in accountability, in access and in outcomes.”

When it comes to ensuring better pandemic preparedness and response, the PAHO Director and Co-Chair of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board agreed that while the world is better prepared than before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, there is still much to be done.

“You can’t talk about prevention, preparedness and response in one place,” Phumaphi said. “It’s all interrelated.”

«We are not here today, but we are on our way to getting there,» he added.

While there have been some positive developments in terms of improved genomic surveillance, recent amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) and the creation of the Pandemic Fund, in the Americas “we are still far from where we need to be to be better prepared for the next pandemic,” said Dr. Barbosa.

“In most countries, the One Health concept remains a concept that needs to be translated into concrete actions,” he added. “It is the only way we can provide early detection and improve response.”

Organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 29 to 30 July 2024, convenes high-level government and global health officials from around the world.

The Summit will focus on a range of key issues to ensure pandemic preparedness, including equitable access to vaccines, medicines and other health technologies, and improved disease surveillance, among others.