Beyond Panic and Neglect: The Role of Health Systems in PPPR

Join Africa CDC and MSH to discuss advancing health security through resilient, country-led preparedness. This event is in-person only.
About this Event

Beyond Panic and Neglect: The Role of Health Systems in PPPR

As global leaders convene for the 81st United Nations General Assembly and the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR), Africa CDC and Management Sciences for Health (MSH) will bring together senior decision-makers to examine a central lesson from recent emergencies: preparedness succeeds only when it is embedded in strong national, primary healthcare and community systems. The event will contribute to the UN theme, “Fostering a multilateral and intergenerational approach to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics and public health emergencies,” by connecting global commitments to country-led implementation

Anchored in Africa CDC’s Africa Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda (AHSS)—particularly Pillar 2 on an institutionalized continental PPPR agenda—the discussion will examine how Africa can move from reactive, emergency-driven responses to sustained preparedness led by capable African institutions. This requires resilient primary healthcare, empowered communities, a protected health workforce, integrated surveillance and laboratories, secure supply chains, interoperable digital systems, and predictable financing, including stronger domestic resource mobilization and more aligned international support.

This discussion is especially timely as the continent responds to the ongoing Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with significant regional preparedness implications. The response illustrates how insecurity, population mobility, uneven local readiness, workforce and logistics constraints, and limited real-time information can delay detection, referral and care. It reinforces the need for a continuously functioning continuum from households and communities through primary health care, laboratories, referral facilities and specialized treatment—not temporary systems activated only after an emergency begins.