The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing inequalities in the global health architecture that existed prior to the pandemic. These inequalities have in turn contributed to disparities in access to vaccines and other tools and disruptions as well as backsliding of essential primary health care (PHC) services, reversing decades of progress in global health. In addition to the indirect impacts of the pandemic efforts to curb it, including the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, have highlighted the inequitable distribution of resources and the weakness of systems required to deliver universal vaccination. The need to strengthen systems and vaccination capacity has perhaps never been so visible. Current and ongoing global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) negotiations, including the development of a new Pandemic Accord, provide a pivotal opportunity for systems strengthening and the progressive development of global health architecture.

This briefing examines four priority areas which are critical for driving progress on PPR:

1. Primary Health Care and Systems Strengthening
2. Research & Development
3. Financing
4. Governance

In each area, the briefing outlines the steps that the UK Government must take in the Accord negotiations and beyond to address each of these four areas and make policy recommendations.

This briefing was written by members of the UK Civil Society Organisation Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group.