he COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the urgent need for a multi-disease, end-to-end medical countermeasures platform for the rapid development of, and equitable access to, pandemic tools. A comprehensive process is needed to devise such a platform to bring coherence to a fragmented landscape of initiatives, and ensure that equity and the needs of underserved populations are at its centre.
In this context, and as indicated by the WHO Director-General following the publication of the ACT-A Evaluation in October 2022, WHO is convening a design and consultation process on a new medical countermeasures platform for pandemics. This process will engage a range of global, regional, and national stakeholders and build on experiences and learnings from the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (PIP) and other relevant inter-agency initiatives.
Following a rapid initial prototyping phase ̶ to be completed by April 2023 ̶ a High-Level Consultative Group will take forward the consultations with a view towards reaching convergence on a new ‘working’ platform that could be launched by September 2023. The Consultative Group will give particular attention to resolving open issues identified during the prototyping phase.
In proposing this process, WHO has consulted with a number of interested stakeholders that are actively exploring aspects of this agenda. WHO welcomes further suggestions on how this consultation process can be enhanced, and looks forward to working with related initiatives and fora to further test and refine design options.