Ministry of Health, Fiocruz and CEPI promote Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024

The Brazilian Ministry of Health, Fiocruz and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) holds, Monday and Tuesday (July 29th and 30th), the second edition of the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit (GPPS) 2024 – the first in Latin America.  The event will take place in Windsor Marapendi Hotel, at Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, and will bring together R&D and manufacturing experts, government officials, civil society representatives and leaders from industry and the global health community to jointly find global solutions to tackle future outbreaks and pandemics faster and more equitably for all countries. , the Summit will foster the spirit of collaboration and collective challenge to advance the shared global pandemic preparedness agenda.

Panelists will discuss topics such as the state of global pandemic preparedness and response, advances and opportunities in epidemiological surveillance, equitable access to health products and technologies, financing models and local production of inputs. Summit focus areas will also explore strengthening  local and regional production capacity to enable equitable access to vaccines, medicines and other health technologies and  advancing the 100 Days Mission for vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics to respond to a novel viral threat within as little as 100 days. This is around a third of the time it took to create a COVID-19 and could stop the next pandemic in its tracks.

Summit speakers include representatives of the World Health Organization the Brazilian Government, CEPI, Fiocruz, and private and philanthropic organizations, including 

•    Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Program, Mike Ryan
•     Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Jarbas Barbosa
•    WHO Deputy Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu
•    The Health Surveillance Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Ethel Maciel
•    President of Fiocruz, Mario Moreira

The first day of the event will include an opening ceremonyand plenary session with the participation of Mario Moreira, CEPI Chair Professor Jane Halton anda representative of the Ministry of Health .
Mario Moreira, President of Fiocruz, said: “The Summit symbolizes Fiocruz's commitment to building a more resilient global health system, capable of developing and distributing vaccines and treatments swiftly and accessibly, protecting all populations, especially the most vulnerable. Hosting this event in Brazil reinforces the need to consider the specificities of the Global South, the region of the world most impacted by pandemic events. I am confident that it will be a highly promising space for the exchange of knowledge and international cooperation, resulting in concrete actions to improve our preparedness and response to pandemics.”

GPPS occurs in the context of a new era of epidemic and pandemic risk. In a worldstill living under the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, which made clear the global challenges of responding to this type of emergency, especially regarding access and equitable production of health technology, this is an opportunity to transform the way the world prepares for and responds to a future pandemic.

Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said: “The Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024 is a milestone moment for the public health community to come together, exchange ideas and spotlight areas of progress and gaps within the world’s pandemic preparedness plans. With so many other ongoing crises competing for political and public attention, there is a significant risk that our focus on emerging infectious diseases might falter. We must not take our eyes off the ball. Hosting the Summit in Rio de Janeiro during Brazil’s G20 Presidency – where there is a critical focus on pandemic preparedness in Brazil’s G20 health agenda – is key to pushing forward these goals for a safer future for all”.
FIND, the International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Unitaid, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence are co-designers of the Summit programme.

About Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024

GPPS is a sciencedriven event that aims to reinvigorate momentum for pandemic preparedness and response—helping to ensure that we can end future infectious disease outbreaks faster and more equitably. It focuses on finding alignment across three themes (equitable access, disease surveillance and the 100 Days Mission) which could transform the world’s ability to respond quickly and equitably to the next Disease X threat. Proceedings, outcomes and recommendations from GPPS will be published to help inform decision-making by world leaders for international pandemic preparedness efforts.
Media and the public are invited to livestream plenary sessions using the links below. Livestream links are active however audience members will not be able to access sessions until 15 minutes before each session.

You can see the latest programme and speakers here.

Day 1, July 29 (08:00 EST/ 09:00 BRT/ 12:00 GMT): Livestream link 
Day 2, July 30 (07:30 EST/ 08:30 BRT/ 12:30 GMT): Livestream link 

Recordings of all summit proceedings will be made publicly shortly after the Summit.More information is available on CEPI’s website (in English) and on social media. 

About CEPI
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organisations. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI has supported the development of more than 50 vaccine candidates or platform technologies against multiple known high-risk pathogens or a future Disease X. Central to CEPI’s pandemic-beating five-year plan for 2022-2026 is the ‘100 Days Mission’ to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days.

About Fiocruz
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) is Latin America's largest biomedical research institution, producing vaccines and medicines to supply the Unified Health System (SUS, the Brazilian national public health system). Linked to the Ministry of Health, it was created in 1900 to initially manufacture serums and vaccines against bubonic plague. Since then, Fiocruz has had an intense trajectory, intertwined with Brazil's public health development. 
Present in ten Brazilian states, as well as in the Federal District, the Foundation has 16 technical-scientific units focused on teaching, research, innovation, assistance, technological development and extension in the health field.