[Knowledge Forum] Reforming the International System to Make the COVID-19 the Last Pandemic –How the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response Took Action–

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a major threat to the world, and new challenges are emerging such as vaccine inequity. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR) completed its main report in May 2021, to examine why COVID-19 became a global health and socio-economic crisis and how the WHO and the international community responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this report, the IPPPR concluded it was a preventable disaster and recommended strengthening the authority and independence of the WHO, building a alert system and funding the procurement mechanism that can function with agility for making the COVID-19 pandemic the last health crisis of humanity. Based on this report, discussions are underway at the global level including the World Health Assembly, G7 and G20.

• Main Report "COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic" (The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response website)

Since the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, more than 10 high-level panels and committees have been established, and various reports have been issued for proposing enhanced preparedness. However, no major reforms have achieved. Would the COVID-19 pandemic change the way of preparedness drastically and fundamentally?

In this forum, Dr. MABUCHI Shunsuke, who was the only Asian participant in the work of the IPPPR as a member of the secretariat, will introduce the contents and process of the IPPPR's report, the discussions within the IPPPR and with the stakeholders on the report and its recommendations. The aim of this forum is to provide opportunities to discuss the reform of the international system and the future of Japan's international cooperation policies and the development programs with all participants.

Program

13:30-13:35 Opening Remarks
MAKINO Koji, Deputy Director of JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development

13:35-14:00 Keynote speech "Making COVID-19 the last pandemic–Analyses and recommendations of the Independent Panel for Preparedness and Response"
MABUCHI Shunsuke, Secretariat member for IPPPR/ Senior Advisor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

14:00-14:15 Talk Session
(Panelists)
MABUCHI Shunsuke, Secretariat member for IPPPR/ Senior Advisor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
MAKINO Koji, Deputy Director of JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development
MAKIMOTO Saeda, Principle Research Fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute for Peace and Development

14:15-14:30 Q&A session 　

JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development

English and Japanese (with simultaneous interpretation)

Free

1000 people

This Forum will be recorded and may be broadcasted on JICA Ogata Research Insitute’s website. If you choose to participate in a discussion, you are presumed to consent to the use of your comments in these recordings.