One Health and the Opportunity for Paradigm Shifts Through a New WHO Pandemic Agreement

The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed healthcare systems around the world, but in the aftermath it has now sharply focused policy attention. With the crisis being multi-dimensional it has ensured that with the many challenges we face, governments must now map a new way forward on global health. The clearest opportunity to enable this new path is the flagship WHO instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, currently being negotiated by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body of the WHO and its Member States. Whether the decisions they make affect meaningful change will depend on the extent to which they prioritize achieving equity for the most vulnerable communities, especially those who come into daily contact with pathogens, at the human-animal-environment interface, and across the entire pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response pathway. Prioritizing equity to more effectively prevent pandemics would seem intuitive but truly achieving this goal will require international institutions and governments to embrace a new way of designing and implementing health policy. In this article, we share the paradigm shifts that are mapping this new way forward, of which One Health has become central. We will also elaborate on the changes that the international community needs to make to enable those developments. © 2023, Society for International Development.