Investing just $4-7 per person per year could significantly enhance preparedness for future pandemic. Principles of Prioritization. July 2023

SFP AP colleagues  

Trust you are well. In light of our shared concerns about pandemic prevention, detection, and response capabilities at the country level, we would like to share some recent insights with you.  Estimates suggest that investing just $4-7 per person per year could significantly enhance preparedness for future pandemics. 

However, many low-income countries may find it challenging to allocate even such modest amounts to preparedness. 

To address this issue, the attached note proposes three principles of prioritization and outlines a set of essential interventions aimed at helping low-income countries establish a strong baseline of preparedness and response capacity for major disease outbreaks. 

We estimate the annual expenses of this prioritized intervention package to be less than one dollar per capita, making it an affordable interim investment strategy until these countries can secure the required resources to finance a broader range of interventions as outlined in the JEE or in the 5Cs approach emphasized in WHO’s latest thinking on this subject.  

We look forward to an opportunity to further discuss this viewpoint with you.

Link to document:  Prioritization Principles July 2023