UNGA81: UN Leaders Calls for Faster Action on Pandemic Preparedness

Khalilur Rahman (second from right), President of the eighty-first session of the United Nations General Assembly, chairs the High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Gartenby Shreya Komar (united nations)Wednesday, September 30, 2026Inter Press Service UNITED NATIONS, September 30 (IPS) - The United Nations High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) on September 25 called for faster and more sustained investment in pandemic preparedness. Speakers emphasized that future outbreaks will require coordinated action across governments, health systems, and communities. The meeting, held three years after the General Assembly’s first high-level meeting on pandemic preparedness, focused on lessons from COVID-19 and persistent gaps in global health security. “No country can protect itself alone,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed said, underscoring the need to turn the lessons of COVID-19 into long-term preparedness.Opening the meeting, Dr. Khalilur Rahman, President of the General Assembly, highlighted three priorities: closing financing gaps, adopting a stronger “One Health” approach, and ensur...