The Pandemic Fund

By Dr. Chatib Basri, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, and Dr. Priya Basu

*This op-ed is adapted from an earlier version published in German in Tagesspiegel Background on May 19, 2025.

Recent years have laid bare the human and economic costs of being unprepared. The economic and social ripple effects of the pandemic have put immense pressures on health systems, with health spending in many countries falling below pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, outbreaks of Ebola, Marburg, H5N1 bird flu, and other diseases continue to emerge, underscoring the persistent and unpredictable nature of pandemic risks. These health threats are unfolding against a backdrop of mounting conflict, fiscal stress, and constrained development financing. 

In today’s environment of shrinking budgets and competing priorities, investing in pandemic preparedness and response (PPR) requires evolved approaches—ones that are catalytic, better coordinated, and grounded in country leadership.

Here are three priorities that can help turn momentum into meaningful progress:

First, catalytic, coordinated financing must underpin preparedness. The global conversation on health financing is witnessing a shift toward greater coherence, efficiency, and country ownership. These principles are reflected in the Lusaka Agenda and embraced by many countries and partners alike. They are also the foundations on which the Pandemic Fund was established. 

As the first and only multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to helping low- and middle-income countries bolster their PPR capacities, the Pandemic Fund promotes coordination and collaboration across sectors and borders, and among Multilateral Development Banks, UN agencies, and regional and global health initiatives. Its grants to 75 countries are anchored in national plans, jointly endorsed by ministries of health and finance, and aligned with domestic systems. With a focus on catalytic financing and multiplier effects, the Fund unlocks additional financing, coordinates across actors, and supports countries’ critical investments in surveillance, laboratories, and the health workforce. 

The US$885 million in grants awarded to date have mobilized an additional US$6 billion for pandemic PPR investments from international financing and domestic resources, a 1:7 leverage ratio. This model reflects the future direction of global health financing: toward alignment, collaboration, leveraged investments, and scaled impact. 

Second, pandemic preparedness strengthens—not competes with—broader health systems and universal coverage. Too often, PPR is seen as a standalone agenda. But in reality, preparedness investments reinforce health systems and accelerate progress toward universal health coverage. Investing in PPR builds the foundational systems needed to deliver quality, affordable, and resilient health care. 

That’s what the Pandemic Fund has shown through its early investments. Strengthening laboratories is enhancing diagnostics and testing services that support prevention and can be scaled up in times of crisis. Training doctors, nurses, community health workers, technicians not only building a health workforce better equipped to prevent, detect, and contain disease outbreaks, but also one that can serve in “peacetime.” Investing in surveillance improves early warning systems and the delivery of essential health programs. These are not parallel tracks—they are mutually reinforcing. 

Third, delivery is already happening in countries, and we know what works. The amended International Health Regulations and the Pandemic Agreement provide important global frameworks. But action must be rooted in country systems—where national, regional, and global health security is built and sustained.

With support from the Fund and investments from governments and partners, Bhutan is upgrading veterinary and human laboratories and building capacity through training lab technicians, field epidemiologists, and farmers in biosafety and biosecurity practices. Ethiopia is building an electronic alert system, upgrading and connecting veterinary and human laboratory networks, and shoring up the health workforce and supply chains to provide surge capacity. Many of these projects are empowering communities and frontline health workers, including those in human and animal health, to reduce high-risk behaviors and strengthen outbreak response.

When diseases are contained locally, capacity grows regionally, the entire world is safer and more resilient. In the Caribbean, the Pandemic Fund supported project is strengthening the Caribbean Public Health Agency’s capacity for regional disease surveillance. In Africa, to address the threat of mpox, the Fund swiftly fast-tracked US$128.89 million to support 10 affected countries, reinforcing country and regional preparedness and safeguarding health security across borders. 

These efforts don’t just respond to emergencies—they strengthen systems for the long term. They also reflect how national investments contribute to broader regional and global readiness—and why delivery at country level is essential to collective security. This is what implementation looks like when countries lead, communities engage, and global financing aligns with national and regional priorities. 

The next pandemic is not a distant possibility. It is not a matter of if but when. Investing in PPR is not an expense, but a strategic investment in future health security and global stability. With the right investments today—aligned, catalytic, and country-driven—we can build stronger, more resilient health systems for generations to come.

Dr. Chatib Basri and Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana are Co-Chairs of the Pandemic Fund’s Governing Board

Dr. Priya Basu is Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund