Conference Centre | Petal 5 | Maison de la Paix
How to finance outbreak preparedness?
Organised by the Government of Finland, the Government of Australia and the Global Health Centre.
Investing in national capacities to prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of infectious disease and other potential health emergencies is a clear need, underscored by the 2013-6 West African Ebola crisis. Despite heightened political attention in the wake of multiple international outbreaks, strong consensus that prevention is better than reaction, and an upsurge of activity in recent years, financing preparedness remains a major challenge. Many health threats are unpredictable and episodic. Estimates of current investment levels and financing gaps are elusive. And the need to jointly address human, animal and environmental health threats (“One Health”) further increases the complexity of mapping and allocating financing. As a result, we do not yet have clear global financing targets or ways to track progress towards such goals, making monitoring and accountability even more difficult. While all countries struggle to invest adequately in health, the flat lining of development assistance for health poses particular complexities in low- and middle-income countries.
We invite you to this panel discussion, in which we will hear about the following questions: How can we increase, stabilise and strengthen financing for preparedness? How have leading countries and actors driven progress, and where do the biggest challenges remain?