Shaping Global Health Law through United Nations Governance: The UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly High-Level Meeting (HLM) on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR) was a missed opportunity to bring high-level commitment and momentum to the global governance of health emergencies. Intended to bring much-needed attention to a policy issue that is rapidly slipping down the international agenda, the fraught diplomacy among member states, lack of consensus on key issues, and weak UN Political Declaration in New York foreshadow a difficult road ahead for upcoming negotiations under the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. The UN General Assembly could have provided momentum to these Geneva processes and advanced commitments on leadership, equity, global financing, and international accountability; however, UN inaction leaves WHO at the helm of global governance for PPPR. While WHO is the appropriate body to lead the health aspects of PPPR, an opportunity for a multisectoral approach to prepare for and respond to pandemic threats has been lost. This column chronicles the evolving engagement of the UN in global health governance, examines the diplomatic process leading to the UN HLM on PPPR, and assesses the contributions and missed opportunities of its resulting Political Declaration.