India has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening global pandemic preparedness and response at a United Nations high-level meeting in New York, with Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava calling for sustained investment, resilient health systems and greater international cooperation.
Representing India at the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response on September 25, Srivastava outlined India's coordinated approach to preparing for a wide range of health emergencies.
Editorial Insight
Key Highlights
Important points readers should notice.
Issue/Event: India reaffirmed its commitment to global pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Location: United Nations Headquarters, New York.
Authority/Organisation: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; United Nations; World Health Organization.
Action Taken: India outlined measures to strengthen laboratories, emergency coordination, health workforce, medical stockpiles, clinical capacity and digital health infrastructure.
Impact: India called for sustained investment, global solidarity and equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and other essential health products.
She highlighted efforts to expand laboratory networks, emergency coordination mechanisms, the health workforce, medical stockpiles and clinical care capacity. She stressed that the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic should be converted into long-term institutional capacity rather than treated only as an emergency response.
Srivastava also emphasised that pandemic preparedness needs to remain rooted in national health systems, development planning and domestic financing, with international assistance complementing national efforts.
Drawing on India's experience during COVID-19, she highlighted the role of digital public infrastructure in disease surveillance, vaccination, risk communication, supply chains and continuity of health services. India called for digital public infrastructure to be recognised as a global public good.
Editorial Analysis
Why This Matters
Pandemic preparedness extends beyond emergency response. Strong laboratory systems, trained health workers, medical stockpiles, surveillance networks and resilient healthcare infrastructure can determine how quickly countries identify and respond to emerging health threats. India's intervention also highlighted a continuing global policy question: how countries can ensure that access to biological resources and pathogen-related information is accompanied by fair access to the vaccines, diagnostics, treatments and technologies developed from them. The discussion is particularly relevant as countries continue implementing the WHO Pandemic Agreement and working on its Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing framework.
India also stressed the importance of solidarity and equitable access to essential health products. During the COVID-19 pandemic, India supplied 300 million vaccine doses to around 100 countries and two UN entities, while providing medical assistance to more than 150 countries.
Srivastava linked these efforts to India's “One Earth, One Health” approach and its wider engagement with the Global South.
A key issue raised by India was the implementation of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025. Srivastava stressed the importance of a fair Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, under which countries contributing pathogens and biological resources should receive timely access to vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics, technologies and other benefits.
She also said ongoing negotiations on the PABS annex should not be prejudged and that implementation should take account of national circumstances and capacities.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for urgent action to strengthen global pandemic preparedness. He highlighted progress since COVID-19, including the WHO Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations, while stressing the need to conclude negotiations on the PABS system.
