Solidarity, multilateralism, shared knowledge and technological strength are essential elements as we seek to emerge from COVID-19 and to build a world capable of protecting itself from another pandemic.

Indonesia and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) have a shared vision for a new global health architecture that can prepare the world to face future pandemic threats. That vision is centered on minimizing and ultimately ending pandemic threats, and it is built on of the need for greater global resilience, greater and more accessible financing, greater commitment to technology and scientific capacity, and above all, greater international collaboration. 

Indonesia and CEPI share the goal of fostering an international approach to the scientific research and development work needed to create tools that can significantly reduce future epidemic and pandemic risks.

Building this new and dynamic system will require the commitment of every government in every region of the world, and Indonesia is leading those efforts through its Group of 20 presidency. As president of the G20 during 2022, Indonesia has been instrumental in the creation of the new Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPR), which has now raised more than US$1 billion from a number of far-sighted national and institutional donors. 

The creation of the FIF, which has CEPI as one of its implementing partners along with the Global Fund and Gavi, represents a vital and concrete step in the building of a more resilient, more prepared global health system.

The FIF will provide a dedicated stream of additional, long-term financing for PPR as well as a critical platform for coordination. The money in this fund will also, in part, be used to support fair, equitable and swift access to medical countermeasures such as vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics in the event of a looming pandemic threat. 

To secure that equitable access, governments and the private sector must cooperate to ensure that capabilities to develop and produce countermeasure are widely distributed, robust, and scalable in the event of a public health emergency. This will require significant expansion and geographical diversification of global manufacturing and research capabilities in all regions.

Through its G20 presidency, Indonesia envisions would like to see greater standardization or regionalization of manufacturing and research hubs, not just in the Global North, but also in the Global South. Vaccine equity has proved an elusive goal throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain so until we create sustainable research and vaccine manufacturing facilities in lower- and middle-income countries across the world.

As it prepares to hold its annual board meeting in Bali during Indonesia’s G20 presidency, CEPI is uniquely placed to help governments alike and international organizations work together to strengthen the world’s defenses against disease threats. And together we are urging governments and financing bodies to collaborate on mobilizing the investments needed in national health systems, in capacity expansion for vaccines, diagnostics and other medical defenses, and in outbreak response plans.

Deeper cooperation is needed, too, in the fields of surveillance, data sharing and standards. Indonesia, as G20 president, is actively encouraging the development of virus-related data sharing collaborations between countries through the G20 Forum. Laboratory expertise such as the identification, characterization and genetic sequencing of new, emerging and mutating pathogens must also be integrated and shared around the world. 

Progress against these goals will be necessary if we are to meaningfully accelerate the development of countermeasures in the future and CEPI applauds Indonesia’s leadership and wholeheartedly supports Indonesia’s efforts in these regards.

To be leaders in health security and play their part in the global community, countries need to strengthen cooperation and learn the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indonesia and CEPI are committed to helping nations come together for peaceful cooperation that extends beyond the COVID-19 crisis, building global capacity and systems and ensuring sustained political, financial, and societal commitment over years and decades to come.

Only by investing in what matters will the world bolster global health security and protect itself and its people against future pandemics.

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Budi Gunadi Sadikin is Indonesian health minister. Richard Hatchett is CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI)