The UK is investing £78 million to strengthen surveillance and frontline health services in the Africa-led Ebola response, Ambassador Helen King told a UN high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Speaking in New York on 25 September, King said families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are losing loved ones to Ebola, with thousands dead and health workers risking their lives daily. Communities already living with conflict and displacement face yet another crisis, she said.
"Outbreaks spread when we fail to act early enough," King said, adding that the lessons are clear: strong surveillance, trusted local health systems, scientific innovation and rapid access to finance. "No country can deliver these things alone," she said.
Through the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the UK is supporting five vaccine candidates with African and UK science partners. On Monday, the UK announced it would invest up to £100 million in CEPI's 3.0 strategy, supporting new vaccines against pandemic and epidemic threats, including Ebola.
King said this is not enough, calling for stronger global cooperation, faster information-sharing and earlier financing. The UK supports the World Bank's Day Zero Financing Framework, which would let countries access financing for vaccines and treatments when warning signs first appear.
The UK is also committed to completing negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement's Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing System. "COVID-19 taught us that diseases do not respect borders," King said. "And the next pandemic will not either."