Prevention strategies must align with national health priorities
The 13th meeting of the INB was held from 17–21 February 2025. Dr. Marisa Peyre, PREZODE Cofounder and Science Focal Point, gave PREZODE’s statement. She emphasized that prevention strategies must align with national health priorities. The legal text could reflect on it along with national circumstances Research performed by PREZODE has shown that top-down measures are often ineffective as they may not be practical or relevant at the local level.
“Local stakeholders and communities, as frontline responders, must be actively involved in the co-development of the national PPR strategies. Research performed by PREZODE has shown that top-down measures are often ineffective, as they may not be practical or relevant at the local level. PREZODE calls Members States to strengthen the legal text to reflect more this bottom-up approach in order to enhance its impact.
Intersectoral collaboration is highlighted as essential for mainstreaming pandemic prevention. Strong institutionalization is important but not sufficient and regular dialogue between stakeholders is necessary for effective implementation. And most importantly, Prevention strategies must align with national health priorities and this could be reflected in the legal text along with national circumstances
PREZODE is strongly promoting a continuous dialogue between policymakers and scientists to ensure operational actions are based on evidence and address national needs. Leveraging national research capacities through international collaboration especially South to South can strengthen decision-making and global preparedness. This point could be further emphasized in the legal text.
The legal text acknowledges the need for equity, emphasizing that developing countries require financial support to implement prevention strategies. Indeed, while they are committed to prevention and the One Health (OH) approach, securing financial resources remains a key challenge and essential for sustainable action as it was demonstrated by our research.
Beyond the agreement adoption, sustained dialogue between Parties is needed to define implementation modalities for pandemic PPR within the OH approach. This ongoing communication is key for coordination, trust-building, and readiness for future crises.”