Second UN high-level meeting renews world commitment on pandemic prevention and preparedness

25 September 2026

The second UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response was held at UN Headquarters in New York on 25 September 2026.
Leaders pledged sustained and equitable investment in prevention, preparedness and response systems, calling for whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement was adopted at the World Health Assembly in May 2025.
Countries are negotiating a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex to the agreement; its adoption at the May 2027 World Health Assembly is needed before member states can ratify the agreement.
Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) have also been adopted to strengthen global health security.
COVID-19 caused more than 20 million excess deaths between 2020 and 2023 and removed more than $10 trillion from the global economy.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman addressed the meeting.