The world remains dangerously underprepared for future pandemics. In a new report Closing the Deal: Financing Our Security Against Pandemic Threats, the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response calls for urgent action to close the pandemic financing gap and protect against escalating biological threats.
In its new report, the Panel issues five recommendations for practical and bold action to take pandemic threats off the table and warns of compounding risks: global health financing is eroding just as the threats of pandemic and deliberate biological events are rising.
Our JLI Center for Global Health Diplomacy was represented on the panel by our Senior Advisor, Dr. Syarifah Liza Munira, who also co-chaired the Preparedness Financing Working Group.
The report calls for Minimum Benchmarks for Pandemic PPR Financing: Governments should allocate, at a minimum, at least 0.1 to 0.2 percent of gross domestic product per year, per country directed toward pandemic PPR. This recommendation applies to all countries and builds on the principles of GPI Global Public Investment that our team has been advocating for for many years suggesting that all countries contribute to Global Public Goods according to their abilities while all countries benefit together and engage in fair decision making.
Liza’s comment is a powerful reminder why this report is so critical.
“Pandemic preparedness and response delivers some of the highest returns in global health. It prevents shocks, protects economies, and enables rapid action when outbreaks hit. The HLIP benchmarks set the floor, but innovative financing — through blended instruments, co-financing, and debt-for-development swaps — is needed to invest early and avoid the far higher costs of crisis-driven response. PPR isn’t a cost; it’s global economic risk management.”, Dr. Syarifah Liza Munira, Senior Advisor JLI Center for Health Diplomacy
Syarifah Liza Munira is a health economist with over 25 years of experience in health systems, financing, immunization, pharmaceuticals, tobacco control, and policy development. She was the inaugural Director General for Health Policy at Indonesia’s Ministry of Health, where she led national health policy formulation and implementation research.
Liza has held significant roles with WHO, the World Bank, and the Global Fund, where she pioneered the world’s first trilateral debt-to-health swap. She currently serves on the Governing Board of the Pandemic Fund, representing Indonesia, India, and the UAE, co-leads the G20 Working Group on Preparedness Financing, and is a member of the IHME Independent Advisory Committee. She also serves as Senior Advisor to the JLI Center for Global Health Diplomacy and is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Universitas Indonesia.
Her experience spans both public and private sectors, including establishing and leading the Government Affairs Department at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals in Indonesia.
Liza holds a Doctorate from the Australian National University, a Master’s in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universitas Indonesia.
