The world today is marked by persistent inequality and increased risk of disease outbreaks and pandemics. Recent systematic analysis by the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics has demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic, the global HIV epidemic and other high-impact epidemics have revealed there is a mutually reinforcing cycle, where inequality within and between countries both drives outbreaks to escalate into pandemics and worsens their impact, further widening inequalities.
This cycle is undermining the ability of scientific advances to keep the world safer from pandemics. It poses a threat to global prosperity and security, highlighting the need for an approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response that can interrupt the cycle, despite the pressures on international cooperation and competing priorities.
While experts have produced numerous recommendations in the aftermath of COVID‑19, global attention has shifted elsewhere, raising the question of whether urgency around pandemic readiness has been lost amid overlapping crises. One critical weakness in policymaking is the failure to face the reality that inequalities between countries globalise pandemic vulnerability.
This session challenges conventional, top‑down approaches to pandemic prevention and preparedness by focusing on the social foundations that determine outcomes in practice. By placing structural inequality at the centre of pandemic resilience, the Council offers a fresh and practical framework to help decision-makers tackle the threat of the next global health crisis more effectively.
