Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Recent global health emergencies, including COVID-19, Mpox, and the re-emergence of polio, have exposed major gaps in achieving timely and equitable access to Medical Countermeasures (MCMs). These challenges were most severe in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where weakened health systems, disrupted supply chains, and constrained public health governance made deployment extremely difficult. Across the entire value chain – from research and development to delivery – these settings were often overlooked, leaving millions without lifesaving vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.
This World Health Summit 2025 Global Health Lab session – co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the WHO interim Medical Countermeasures Network (i-MCM-Net) – explored how equitable access to MCMs could be strengthened in conflict settings. The session was moderated by Nagwa Abdel Tawab Hasanin (UNICEF). It examined gaps in global manufacturing strategies, fragmented governance, security risks for health actors, and structural barriers to deployment.
Speakers Daniela Belén Garone (MSF), Jean Kaseya (Africa CDC), Niels Annen (BMZ), Chikwe Ihekweazu (WHO), M. Alaa Edin Abdin (Ministry of Health, Syria), and Tim Nguyen (WHO) shared perspectives from humanitarian response, national leadership, global governance, and emergency operations. They discussed how new mechanisms – such as the Pandemic Agreement and i-MCM-Net – could integrate the realities of fragile settings into global preparedness.
The session highlighted the need for redesigned systems, better coordination, inclusive financing, and stronger political commitment to ensure that people living in conflict zones received timely access to essential medical countermeasures.
The World Health Summit is the leading global platform bringing together science, politics, civil society, and the private sector to catalyze collaborative and innovative solutions for key health priorities. Learn more: worldhealthsummit.org
Recent global health emergencies, including COVID-19, Mpox, and the re-emergence of polio, have exposed major gaps in achieving timely and equitable access to Medical Countermeasures (MCMs). These challenges were most severe in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where weakened health systems, disrupted supply chains, and constrained public health governance made deployment extremely difficult. Across the entire value chain – from research and development to delivery – these settings were often overlooked, leaving millions without lifesaving vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.
This World Health Summit 2025 Global Health Lab session – co-hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the WHO interim Medical Countermeasures Network (i-MCM-Net) – explored how equitable access to MCMs could be strengthened in conflict settings. The session was moderated by Nagwa Abdel Tawab Hasanin (UNICEF). It examined gaps in global manufacturing strategies, fragmented governance, security risks for health actors, and structural barriers to deployment.
Speakers Daniela Belén Garone (MSF), Jean Kaseya (Africa CDC), Niels Annen (BMZ), Chikwe Ihekweazu (WHO), M. Alaa Edin Abdin (Ministry of Health, Syria), and Tim Nguyen (WHO) shared perspectives from humanitarian response, national leadership, global governance, and emergency operations. They discussed how new mechanisms – such as the Pandemic Agreement and i-MCM-Net – could integrate the realities of fragile settings into global preparedness.
The session highlighted the need for redesigned systems, better coordination, inclusive financing, and stronger political commitment to ensure that people living in conflict zones received timely access to essential medical countermeasures.
The World Health Summit is the leading global platform bringing together science, politics, civil society, and the private sector to catalyze collaborative and innovative solutions for key health priorities. Learn more: worldhealthsummit.org
