As representatives drawn from diverse parliamentary networks and assemblies, considering the fundamental role of members of parliament in enhancing global health, and in recognition of the need for multilateralism and coordination to address the current pandemic, tackle other infectious diseases and drivers of ill-health, and achieve the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals, we declare:

• That infectious diseases represent the biggest driver of preventable deaths worldwide and that stronger public health systems must be put in place to address current challenges and prevent future pandemics.
• That there is a moral, economic, and human rights obligation to ensure universal and equitable access to diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines, and that the failure to deliver universal access to such medicines represents a threat to global public health.
• That additional sustainable resources are urgently required from the international community to rebuild and further strengthen health systems, and that multilateral aid mechanisms have a key role to play in providing those resources. Thus, ensuring and supporting the successful replenishment of the Global Fund, CEPI, Gavi, GARDP and all funding mechanisms that support diseases not covered in the aforementioned organisations is essential to channel investments in health systems strengthening, addressing both existing and future pandemic threats.
• That domestic governments can no longer afford to deprioritise health and must take urgent measures to strengthen their health systems including through increasing their public health workforce, developing pandemic preparedness measures such as surveillance systems, and investing and foster research and development and innovative approaches to global health challenges such as through digital health and the entirety of the ‘one health approach’ in order to ensure the development of new, safe and effective health tools, affordable and available to patients in a timely manner.
• That investments have to be made to close the gap within and between countries and reach Universal Health Coverage, enabling equitable access to health care and ultimately health status for everyone irrespective of their socio-economic and other status.
• That measures are urgently required to enhance human rights protections during health emergencies, particularly of already vulnerable and marginalised communities, as well as to strengthen civil society engagement in pandemic preparedness and response.

We believe that parliamentary networks and assemblies can play a critical role in driving these changes through advocating for enhanced resources, monitoring and proposing changes to the policy environment, and holding governments and multilateral institutions to account for their commitments. We commit:

•  To establish the International Forum on Global Health, drawing together representatives from international parliamentary assemblies and networks under a common global health and economic agenda, with a human rights centred approach, and fostering international cooperation on pressing issues such as pandemic preparedness, global health security, health financing, research and development, equitable access to existing and new health tools, universal health coverage, the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and other infectious diseases, as well as the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance;
• To support the members of our assemblies and networks to advocate for resource mobilisation and policy change in key areas of mutual concern and interest to ensure no one is left behind.

Signatories

Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite, MD, MP
President of UNITE Global Parliamentarians Network to End Infectious Diseases
Member of Parliament, Portugal

The Rt Hon Liam Byrne
Chair of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF
Member of Parliament, United Kingdom

Hon Gennaro Migliore
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean
Member of Parliament, Italy

Hon Sandrine Mörch
Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean
President of the 3rd Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Member of Parliament, France

Hon Laurent Wehrli
President of the Commission on Education, Communications and Cultural Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie
Member of Parliament, Switzerland

Senator Pierre Flambeau Ngayap
Co-chair of the francophone linguistic region of the Global TB Caucus
Member of Parliament, Cameroon

Dr Georg Kippels
Member of the Global Parliamentary Group to Combat NTDs
Member of Parliament, Germany

Hon Neema Lugangira
Member of the Global Parliamentary Group to Combat NTDs
Member of Parliament, Tanzania

Hon Swarup Ranjan Mishra
Member of the Parliamentarians for Peace
Member of Parliament, Kenya