The world is in an era of destabilization, challenged by multiple interconnected crises including pandemics, military conflicts, and climate change, among others. Pandemic risk is expected to grow further in the future, particularly from diseases that are zoonotic in origin. In this context, the G7 leaders are expected to advance health system resilience to be able to respond to public health emergencies and multiple health threats in a flexible manner and transform and strengthen the global architecture to enhance global solidarity amidst current geopolitical tensions and shifts.
Regarding Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPR), the United Kingdom’s G7 presidency in 2021 launched the 100 Days Mission (100DM) to make diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines available within 100 days of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern being declared by the World Health Organization (WHO). The German G7 Presidency last year unveiled the Pact for Pandemic Readiness, intending to enhance surveillance for early detection of outbreaks of new infectious diseases, train a diverse range of experts, and strengthen global solidarity to expedite the detection and analysis of diseases and speed up clinical trials. The plans under these initiatives are still in progress, and the G7 is expected to offer concrete steps to promote their implementation.
The 2023 G7 Global Health Task Force, hosted by the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE) (Director: Professor Hideaki Shiroyama, Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo), recommends the following action items for the 2023 G7, based on past G7 agreements and recognition that promoting global solidarity towards resilient health systems require advancing resilient UHC, ensure timely and equitable access to medical countermeasures (MCM), and build global health architecture to achieve these two goals.
