Pandemic preparedness should go beyond preparing to respond when an emergency occurs and instead begin with building resilient health systems capable of maintaining essential services during crises, Egyptian Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said.
Abdel Ghaffar made the remarks in a recorded opening address to a high-level international dialogue titled “Preparedness that Protects: Advancing Pandemic Preparedness through Resilient Health Systems and Continuity of Essential Health Services,” held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly.
The dialogue was hosted by Egypt’s Health Ministry, Spain’s Health Ministry and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, with ministers and officials from the United Arab Emirates, Norway and Spain, as well as representatives of international, health and humanitarian organisations.
Abdel Ghaffar said the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises showed that health threats were persistent, interconnected and unpredictable.
The strength of a health system, he said, should therefore be measured not only by its capacity to detect and contain an outbreak, but also by whether it can continue routine healthcare services while responding to an emergency.
Those services include vaccination programmes, maternal and child healthcare, treatment of non-communicable diseases, mental healthcare, cancer treatment and palliative care, while health workers must also be protected during outbreaks, he said.
Abdel Ghaffar called for sustained investment in primary healthcare, disease surveillance, immunisation, the health workforce, supply chains and community systems.
He also stressed the need to strengthen early detection capabilities, healthcare infrastructure, workforce protection, community engagement and continued access to medical services.
Pandemic preparedness and health-system resilience, Abdel Ghaffar said, are two sides of the same responsibility: protecting lives before, during and after a health emergency.
Preparedness must also be centred on people and reach those most in need, including children, older people, people with chronic diseases or disabilities, migrants, refugees and displaced populations, he said.
“No one,” he argued, should have to choose between protection from a health emergency and access to the routine care they require.
Abdel Ghaffar also called for international discussions on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response to move from lessons learned to stronger systems, from commitments to implementation and from fragmented efforts to genuine international solidarity.
Equity should remain at the centre of pandemic preparedness, he said, arguing that access to preparedness capabilities should not depend on a country’s geography, income level or negotiating power.
All countries, he said, should be able to detect health threats early, protect healthcare workers, maintain essential services, access medical countermeasures and recover rapidly following a crisis.
Abdel Ghaffar concluded that resilience is built long before an emergency begins and tested when a crisis strikes. A resilient health system, he said, is one that can respond to an outbreak while continuing essential healthcare, preserving previous health gains and emerging better prepared for future threats.
