Delivered by Aaron Emmel at United Nations Headquarters on June 9, 2026
At the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, an initiative of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, we support government and civil society capacity to strengthen public investments in health security – and the primary healthcare systems that maintain it.
The devastating Ebola outbreak is one more reminder that pandemic prevention, preparedness and response depends on international coordination. It also requires strong domestic health systems. Our shared global health security depends on the ability of every country to deliver on the International Health Regulations (2005).
This means domestic resource mobilization for PPPR at a time when public health budgets everywhere are being strained. The good news is that we know what’s possible. In countries we’ve worked work with to increase health security budgets at the national and subnational levels, such as Nigeria and Uganda, progress has come from both budget technical assistance to relevant government ministries, and sustained political will supported by an engaged civil society.
This is one reason the response to pandemics must recognize the essential role of civil society in driving political agendas by developing, delivering and tracking health policies and their outcomes. Political will cannot be imported or imposed; it is developed locally.
Preparedness is built through local capacity, from manufacturing and laboratories to surveillance. That’s why we’ve worked with the Global Fund’s civil society network to train Community-Led Monitoring Partners to track and report on pandemic prevention and response, and partnered with Resolve to Save Lives to train African and Asian civil society organizations on health financing policy.
The world’s health is only as secure as each country’s health system.