G7 leaders commit to greater pandemic preparedness (again)
Authors: None The Lancet Microbe
Journal: The Lancet Microbe (2021)

The conclusion of the G7 summit on June 13, 2021, yielded many commitments to pandemic preparedness. Although these commitments were couched in the bland terminology that is expected from this type of event, they represent a trajectory that will hopefully lead to the levels of preparedness that have been needed for years. It is also welcome that, in addition to statements on the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics, the G7 leaders acknowledged that antimicrobial resistance is among the major health threats faced by the world. But it is reasonable to be a little sceptical, as these commitments are familiar to those who recall the G7 summit in 2016. Back then, the G7 leaders expressed their commitment “to take leadership in reinforcing response to public health emergencies and antimicrobial resistance”. The 2021 communiqué hits the ground running in its precis by stating that, starting immediately, efforts to vaccinate the world against COVID-19 will be intensified and frameworks will be created to strengthen defences against health threats. Among these defences will be the improvements of “early warning systems”. A centrepiece of these systems will be the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence explored by Vijay Shankar Balakrishnan in the News section of this issue. Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been many calls for the prioritisation of surveillance, including in the pages of The Lancet Microbe, so it is very welcome to see that surveillance has entered the mainstream. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed. Specifically related to SARS-CoV-2, the communiqué includes a commitment by G7 nations to “boost global surveillance and genomic sequencing and swift information sharing needed to enable the rapid detection needed to combat the virus and its emerging variants”. It will take subsequent, larger gatherings (such as the G20 summit in October) to make this undertaking more of a global commitment. The G7 nations set themselves a target of sequencing and sharing on existing databases at least 10% of all new positive COVID-19 samples during the “pandemic phase”, but it is unclear what will define the end of this phase. It is reassuring that antimicrobial resistance continues to be acknowledged as a major health threat by the G7 leaders. But, as already noted, antimicrobial resistance has found its way into these communiqués previously without any material outcomes. Confidence that the mention of antimicrobial resistance will lead to a tangible outcome is further diminished by the lack of any specific plans related to this issue. As the world has discovered with pandemic preparedness, it is only when the consequences are staring us in the face that robust action is taken. The communiqué contains an endorsement of the G7 Carbis Bay Health Declaration, which goes into detail about the actions to “ensure all countries are better equipped to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from health crises”. First among these actions is strengthening the One Health approach to prevention and preparedness. Despite the re-emerged arguments over the origin of SARS-CoV-2, wild animals will continue to be the overwhelming source of new pathogens with pandemic potential. Throughout the communiqué and Health Declaration, the words multilateral and transparent are conspicuously and justifiably sending a message to other nations. Many outbreak responses over recent years were initially hampered by a lack of transparency. In part this lack was to avoid stigma but also to avoid ceding authority over national crises. The plan is to strengthen the role of WHO in pandemic preparedness and response in accordance with a resolution made at the 74th World Health Assembly in May. If there is a genuine commitment to global cooperation, then the ambition to avoid a pandemic on the scale of COVID-19 might be realised. Only time will tell if these commitments turn into concrete mechanisms to prevent and counter future pandemics. Past actions on pandemic preparedness demonstrably failed to meet the demands of the current pandemic, in part because the risk of an event on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic was viewed as far off or hypothetical by national leaders, who despite their past commitments, focused on shorter-term priorities. The current pandemic will probably stay fresh in the minds of many people for some years to come, providing hope that commitments this time lead to genuine preparedness. WHO–Germany collaboration for pandemic intelligence researchOn May 5, 2021, WHO announced the launch of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in collaboration with Germany. The initiative aims to track, collect, analyse, and use data from outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics to better prepare for, predict, and manage them. Full-Text PDF Open Access