25 January 2016: The risk of major health crises is widely underestimated, according to a high-level panel, and “the world’s preparedness and capacity to respond is woefully insufficient.” The report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises, published in an advance, unedited version, presents 27 recommendations for international, regional and national action to strengthen the global health architecture to better address the threat of pandemics, including priority actions for achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the Panel in April 2015 to recommend ways to strengthen international and national systems to prevent and respond to future health crises, taking into account lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak. The Panel’s findings and recommendations are presented in a report, titled ‘Protecting Humanity from Future Health Crises.’

Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to communicable disease outbreaks, the report notes, and inadequate sanitation and weak health systems can accelerate disease spread. Observing that only a small number of developing countries spend the recommended per capita minimum on health care, the Panel urges all countries to review their spending priorities and increase national budget allocations towards a 15% expenditure on health.

The Panel also urges Member States to commit to achieving the health-related SDGs, including Target 3.3 on addressing the threat of health crises from communicable and other diseases. The Panel calls on the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) to consider indicators on compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR) Core Capacity requirements and overall strengthening of health systems, as part of the SDG monitoring process. On financing the health-related SDGs and other health interventions, the Panel recommends directing a greater percentage of official development assistance (ODA) to strengthening health systems.

Within the UN General Assembly (UNGA), the Panel suggests creating a High-Level Council on Global Public Health Crises to provide political leadership on global preparedness, monitor implementation of proposed reforms and contribute to the organization of a Summit on Global Public Health Crises, in 2018. UN Secretary-General Ban is expected to prepare his own report, based on the Panel’s findings.

The Panel was chaired by Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania, and also included Celso Amorim (Brazil), Micheline Calmy-Rey (Switzerland), Marty Natalegawa (Indonesia), Joy Phumaphi (Botswana), and Rajiv Shah (US). [UN Press Release on Panel] [Publication: Protecting Humanity from Future Health Crises] [Official Version (A/70/723), issued 9 February]