EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a stronger and more inclusive health emergency preparedness, response, and resilience (HEPR) architecture.

• The Director-General will present proposals for strengthening this architecture, developed in consultation with Member States and considering other ongoing processes and input from independent reviews to the Seventy-fifth Health Assembly.

• To ensure a broad and inclusive consultation process, a draft of the Director-General’s proposals for strengthening HEPR will be published by 21 April for consultation with Member States.

• The consultation document will outline the overarching principles of equity in access and outcomes; inclusivity of ownership by all countries and sectors; and coherence in the alignment of systems and their financing and governance with existing instruments and mechanisms.

• The consultation document will outline the HEPR needs covering systems, governance and financing at the national, regional and global levels across the emergency continuum of preparedness, prevention, readiness, detection, and response, including:

  - Systems and capacities required for effective HEPR, including surveillance & collaborative intelligence; population interventions & community engagement; clinical care and resilient health systems; research & access to countermeasures & supplies; and HEPR coordination & emergency operations.

  - Governance to bring greater coherence to the global architecture, including strengthened mechanisms for leadership, regulation, and accountability.

  - Financing that is predictable and adequate for national preparedness and prevention; rapidly available to support scaling emergency response, and sustainable financing for WHO and other providers of global public goods and services in HEPR.

• The consultation document will additionally outline the current gaps in the global architecture for HEPR; identify processes that are currently ongoing to address gaps in HEPR; and propose solutions and processes to address remaining critical gaps.

• This concept note outlines the proposed goals, principles, and priorities for strengthening the global architecture of HEPR; proposes a framework for the global architecture of HEPR and describes the process by which the Secretariat will be informed by the Member States and other stakeholders in the development of the consultation document.