THE PROBLEM

Large-scale disease outbreaks, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and natural disasters pose significant risks for nations, leading to extensive mortality, illness, and substantial social and economic burdens. These consequences disproportionately impact the poorest and most vulnerable communities. The escalating threat of another pandemic or health emergency is attributable to factors such as climate change, urbanization, fragility, migration, evolving food systems, land use alterations, and ecosystem degradation. Disease outbreaks and health emergencies not only jeopardize public health but also hinder the attainment of development goals. However, the impacts of these crises can be mitigated through early detection and warning systems, robust frontline health services, improved preparedness, and enhanced resilience. While investments in health emergency prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) offer substantial returns at various levels, there remains widespread underinvestment, necessitating innovative approaches.

Several independent analyses show that there is a 2–3% chance of another global pandemic every year for the next quarter century—which implies a 50:50 chance that the world will witness a major disease outbreak in the next 25 years. It is therefore urgent that governments and international development partners prioritize sustainable investments in emergency preparedness at the country level. Accordingly, WHO has embarked on an ambitious effort to help countries be better prepared to detect and respond rapidly to the next outbreak before it assumes pandemic proportions.

THE PHAROS SOLUTION

Pharos was engaged by the WHO in May 2024 to develop a costing model for sustainable financing for health emergency preparedness, and to support the costing of a national investment plan for health emergency preparedness in Sri Lanka. This project was a continuation of our previous partnership with the WHO SPP team to assist with the development of Somalia’s national PPR investment plan [link to that project page].

This work was completed in two phases.

Phase 1. Design of a HEPR costing tool used to generate country-level prospectus documents to feed into national HEPR investment plans. Pharos applied this tool to draft prospectus documents in 7 countries.

Phase 2.  Pharos assisted the WHO Country Office for Sri Lanka to draft their national investment plan on health emergency preparedness with a focus on costing, including desk review of key inputs, mapping of technical inputs, and drafting of sections of the national investment plan.

Status: Completed, May 2024 – August 2024

Team Members Involved: Maria Stavridou, Jeremy Otridge, Robert Hecht

For more information, contact Michael at [email protected]