Statement to the United Nations High Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response

The Global Health Advocacy Incubator calls for sustained political momentum for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response at the United Nations High Level Meeting, on September 20, 2023.

The Global Health Advocacy Incubator is a non-governmental organization dedicated to improving health and saving lives through locally led advocacy campaigns. We support efforts at national and subnational levels to promote public health and build enduring constituencies of governmental and non-government stakeholders who work together to ensure health policies are passed, and sustainably financed.

Working closely with local civil society organizations, we strive to build and sustain political will for policy change and advocate for the funding, human resources and infrastructure needed for policy implementation.

By directing our efforts primarily towards building organic support within countries, we hope to enable more sustainable health systems that are both responsive to local needs and able to respond to international emergencies.

To prevent the next pandemic and the failures and widespread inequities exposed by the COVID-19 response, we join the call for international leaders to commit to an action agenda with goals and targets that sustain political momentum and urgency for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; improve mechanisms for international cooperation based on lessons learned; and provide the financing needed to close funding gaps to strengthen health systems and implement a whole of government, whole of society approach.

The response must recognize the essential role of civil society in driving political agendas by developing, delivering, and tracking health policies and their outcomes. Civil society helps to build and sustain political will in countries, ensure policies are fit to local context and priorities and promote domestic resource mobilization that is both accountable and sustainable. Political will cannot be imported or imposed but fostered from within.