Financing for Outbreak Preparedness and Response

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There is a clear economic case for accelerating investment and progress toward improved global health security – the cost of preparedness and prevention is a fraction of the cost of response and recovery. The question is how to get the sizing, organization, and incentives of financing preparedness right at national and global levels, ensuring resources are in place to mount an effective, coordinated response when health emergencies occur.

Sustained and substantial funds are vital for global health security, but the landscape of financing for preparedness, prevention and response is fragmented and poorly governed. Multiple international programs, initiatives, and institutions have evolved in the aftermath of past pandemics, but many were small and inadequately funded; the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the ways in which global preparedness and response are under-resourced and under-prioritized. What financing commitments, structures, and mechanisms will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure fit-for-purpose financing for global health security going forward?

CGD experts have been examining and working to improve financing for preparedness, prevention, and response since long before the COVID-19 pandemic, including work on financing for the response to Ebola and antimicrobial resistance, and the global health team continues to provide research, commentary, and analysis for actionable solutions and transformative ways forward.