LocationsResilience, innovation and rights: Three ingredients for epidemic preparedness
December 20, 2024
With a 40 to 53 percent chance of another devastating pandemic within the next 25 years, the need for urgent investment in epidemic preparedness and response is clear.
In a time of flux and in the face of multiple, cascading crises, the world has failed to build a global defence against health threats and to make sure no country or community is left behind.
There is a 40 percent to 53 percent chance of another devastating pandemic within the next 25 years, and we are not prepared. Africa alone faces more than 200 active health threats, ranging from infectious diseases to disasters. This looming threat of epidemics, compounded by the impacts of climate change, the spread of misinformation and persistent social inequalities, makes the need for urgent investment in pandemic preparedness and response more pressing than ever.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed major gaps in pandemic preparedness and response efforts, particularly in countries’ ability to respond quickly and equitably, and in shared responsibility and global solidarity more broadly. The recent mpox emergency has revealed that key lessons have yet to be learned.
A successful strategy for preparedness and response must address the interconnected challenges that drive pandemics by incorporating three key ingredients: enhancing climate resilience, fostering technological innovation and safeguarding human rights.
With UNDP support, countries around the world are leveraging digital platforms to improve access to health care.
The climate-health connection: Integrating climate and pandemic preparedness
Pandemic preparedness cannot be separated from the environmental and climate challenges the world increasingly faces. Climate change is already escalating health risks — rising temperatures, disrupted ecosystems and extreme weather events are facilitating the spread of infectious diseases. By 2040, the spread of malaria alone could put 5 billion people at risk.
Addressing this complex challenge requires integrated, innovative approaches such as One Health. Together with partners such as WHO, UNEP and others, UNDP is a partner in Nature4health, a global initiative working nationally to prevent pandemics and related health risks by strengthening the environmental aspects of One Health.
In Viet Nam, UNDP is supporting One Health efforts to increase health system resilience in the face of climate disasters and manage and prevent zoonotic diseases that arise as animals and humans are forced into closer contact due to deforestation, urbanization and rising temperatures. Similarly, UNDP India is helping to strengthen policies, improve data systems and eliminate zoonotic diseases like dog-mediated rabies through a One Health approach.
"A successful strategy for preparedness and response must address the interconnected challenges that drive pandemics."
Other initiatives, like Solar for Health, integrate climate resilience into health systems, helping countries mitigate the impact of climate-related threats while advancing universal health coverage. UNDP also works with countries to incorporate health considerations into their national climate action plans, a crucial step towards a more ambitious and holistic approach to both environmental and health security.
Harnessing data and technology: Innovations for equitable health responses
From early warning systems and innovative participatory surveillance for outbreak detection to telemedicine, it’s clear that innovations can improve health. For example, Indonesia recently unified all healthcare digital platforms into one system, STATUSEHAT Logistik, to improve access for underserved communities. With eGov Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, UNDP is helping to digitize health services and build resilient health systems capable of responding efficiently to pandemics and being better prepared for outbreaks.
Energy-efficient, climate-smart solutions include Smart Health Facilities, which provides low-cost and reliable access to health technology to 15 countries. Similarly, the Sehat Dost app in Pakistan unlocks access to HIV treatment resources, testing kits and medical expertise, demonstrating how technology can dismantle barriers to care.
Planning, designing and delivering innovations with access in mind can help ensure innovations like these reach everyone, everywhere. Uniting Efforts for Innovation, Access and Delivery – a joint initiative of the Government of Japan, the UNDP-led Access and Delivery Partnership and the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) – brings together stakeholders, innovators and policymakers to get new health technologies to patients in need. Their efforts include ensuring access is a consideration early on in R&D, long before health products come to market.
In Pakistan, patients can access HIV treatment resources, testing kits and medical expertise through the the Sehat Dost app.
The human rights imperative: Why rights are central to pandemic preparedness and response
When it comes to pandemic preparedness and response, human rights cannot be an afterthought.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic remains a powerful example of the centrality of human rights. Rights-based strategies that centre community leadership, address stigma and dismantle structural barriers have saved lives and dramatically reduced infections. These approaches ensure no one is excluded, strengthening public health systems and fostering trust in health systems and services. When rights are violated – whether through discrimination, criminalization or stigma – key populations are driven away from essential services, deepening inequalities, increasing risks and undermining public health.
Unfortunately, a pushback on human rights, gender equality and civic space, coupled with rising HIV infections in several regions, threatens to undermine decades of progress. The 10-10-10 targets, adopted by countries in 2021, aim to dismantle the societal barriers that prevent access to essential HIV prevention and treatment services. Through the #Triple10Targets campaign, UNDP and partners are calling on leaders to seize the moment: the science to end AIDS exists, and communities are pushing governments to uphold rights, not barriers.
A rights-based approach, grounded in equity and inclusion, is not only critical for achieving an AIDS-free future but also for strengthening health systems capable of responding to future health threats. When the most vulnerable are protected, communities are healthier, safer and more resilient in the face of health emergencies.
The COVID-19 pandemic also reaffirmed that lesson. Countries that integrated human rights into their responses saw fewer deaths and quicker economic recoveries. UNDP continues to urge countries to adopt science and rights-based approaches in the face of health emergencies and protect the most vulnerable first.
Seizing the opportunity for pandemic preparedness
Pandemic preparedness is more than just a matter of public health. As the deadline for Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals comes closer, the global community must commit to accelerating high-impact integrated actions that strengthen systems for health rooted in resilience, innovation and rights that ensure health for all.
The next health crisis is not a question of if, but when. The opportunity to create truly resilient and inclusive health systems better prepared to respond so that outbreaks don’t become pandemics is within our reach, but only if we act with urgency and resolve. The lessons from HIV to COVID-19 are clear. Now is the time to apply them before the next pandemic strikes.
Related
content
content
