It has been approximately five years since COVID-19 took the world by storm, and talks about it exposing huge gaps in the health system took the spotlight at the 2025 G20 Leaders’ Summit.
The G20, through its health security commitments, is on a mission to close the gap in access to adequate healthcare and innovations.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the pandemic exposed deep inequalities and unpreparedness for health disasters, especially in low-and middle-income countries.
As a result, WHO has welcomed the G20’s renewed commitment to health security, stronger health systems, and long-term disaster risk reduction.
The G20 highlighted these issues as a priority in the latest declaration.
This year’s leaders’ summit was held in Johannesburg, under the presidency of South Africa, on 22 and 23 November 2025.
Speaking at the Summit, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked the G20 for backing a more unified global response to future health threats.
He also urged member states to move quickly on key pandemic-preparedness negotiations.
STRONG PRAISE FOR G20 HEALTH SECURITY PROGRESS
According to Ghebreyesus, the G20’s endorsement of health security, disaster-risk principles, and South Africa’s focus on critical infrastructure mark a significant step in building resilience ahead of the next pandemic.
He warns that the next pandemic is “not a question of if, but when.”
He emphasised that COVID-19 exposed deep global weaknesses, from slow detection to unequal access to vaccines.
Ghebreyesus views the G20’s renewed health security commitment as a boost in addressing these issues.
G20 HEALTH SECURITY KEY INITIATIVES HIGHLIGHTED:
Moreover, Ghebreyesus applauded the G20 for spearheading two major global health mechanisms:
1. The Pandemic Fund (a possible antidote for global health security)
- Set up in 2022 to finance pandemic preparedness, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
- Supports early detection systems, rapid response capacity and stronger health infrastructure.
- Hosted by the World Bank, with the WHO providing technical guidance.
2. The Joint Finance-Health Task Force
- Formed in 2021 to unite G20 finance and health ministers.
- Ensures pandemic risks are treated as global economic risks, and not just health issues.
- Helps countries coordinate funding, investments and early warnings.
Both platforms were born out of the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now central to global health security planning.
Additionally, the WHO has also launched its own set of initiatives aimed at strengthening international health security.
However, Ghebreyesus stressed that the world cannot afford delays in finalising critical agreements.
PANDEMIC AGREEMENT: A NEW ERA OF GLOBAL COOPERATION
According to Ghebreyesus, this year (2025), member states adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement, a landmark legal instrument designed to:
- improve early warning systems,
- ensure fair access to vaccines and treatments,
- strengthen national health systems, and
- enhance global coordination when outbreaks occur.
The agreement will formally come into force once a sufficient number of countries approve it, improving global health security.
PABS NEGOTIATIONS UNDER PRESSURE
Ghebreyesus also called on G20 countries to accelerate health security and negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, an annexe to the Pandemic Agreement.
What PABS aims to do in the wider scope of global health security:
- Ensure that countries that share pathogen samples receive fair access to vaccines and treatments developed from those samples.
- Prevent a repeat of COVID-19 vaccine inequity.
- Guarantee faster global sharing of virus samples and genetic data.
He urged that PABS negotiations be completed by the next World Health Assembly in May 2026, calling it essential for global fairness and health security.
G20 HEALTH SECURITY: THE BOTTOM LINE
WHO believes that the G20 has taken significant steps toward building a safer and more resilient global health system.
