Beyond Panic and Neglect: The Role of Health Systems in Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response

As global leaders gather for the 81st United Nations General Assembly and the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR), Africa CDC and MSH will will bring together leaders from across the global health community to confront a central challenge: how do we move from responding to each emergency as a crisis to building health systems that are ready before the next threat arrives?

Recent emergencies have made the lesson increasingly clear. Pandemic preparedness cannot operate as a parallel system that switches on when an outbreak begins. Lasting readiness depends on the institutions, workforce, financing, supply chains, data systems, primary health care, and community networks that countries rely on every day.

Anchored in Africa CDC’s Africa Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda, particularly its focus on institutionalizing PPPR, the discussion will examine what it takes to move beyond recurring cycles of panic and neglect and embed preparedness in national systems, plans, budgets, and institutions.

The urgency is immediate. The ongoing Ebola disease outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security. While progress has been made in some affected areas, transmission continues and the outbreak has exposed persistent challenges related to insecurity, population mobility, frontline capacity, access to care, surveillance, logistics, and community engagement.

These are not challenges that emergency response alone can solve. They underscore why preparedness must be built into stronger, continuously functioning health systems—systems capable of detecting threats early, protecting essential services, moving resources quickly, and sustaining trusted relationships with communities before, during, and after a crisis.

The conversation will bring together leaders working across health security, financing, immunization, medicines and technologies, emergency response, community health, and health systems strengthening to identify practical actions for translating global PPPR commitments into country-led implementation.

Remarks by

• H.E. Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
• Marian W. Wentworth, President and CEO, Management Sciences for Health

Featured speakers

• The program will feature a ministerial dialogue with government leaders from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, and beyond, bringing national perspectives to how pandemic preparedness can be sustainably led, financed, and embedded within country systems.
• A high-level expert panel will then examine how global health and financing institutions can better align their investments and support around country priorities.

Thursday, September 24, 2026
12:00-2:00 pm
New York City, USA

A networking reception will follow the discussion.
In-Person Only