This week, the United Nations (UN) is convening its General Assembly in New York to deliberate on the most pressing issues facing the global community. A key issue at the top of the General Assembly’s health agenda is working to ensure global health security. On the heels of two of the most burdensome pandemics in recent history—the Ebola outbreak and the Zika crisis—it’s not a moment too soon to devise and promote proactive solutions to strengthen global health security and ensure effective response to future outbreaks. Multi-sectoral partnerships can help us get there.

First, it’s important to recognize that medicines are one of our best defenses against major disease outbreaks; they can save countless lives and limit the spread of the outbreak by treating people before they infect others. But, these treatments only go as far as health systems allow. Without adequate health financing, strong supply chains and infrastructure, trained health care professionals and appropriate patient education, medicines that can limit an outbreak are far less effective because they cannot always reach the patients who need them. Public-private partnerships, which combine the reach of the public sector with the expertise and speed of private companies, can help address these barriers.

A second component to strengthening global health security and emergency response is ensuring that we have treatments for rare and neglected diseases that have the potential to become major public health emergencies. Research and development for these medicines are especially risky, which is why it’s vital that we have adequate incentives and strong intellectual property protections in place. By strengthening intellectual property systems, innovators are incentivized to invest time and resources into innovative treatments for these threats, and are willing to bring these medicines to countries around the world knowing their work will be protected.  

Global health emergencies not only impact the health and wellbeing of people around the world, but can also have detrimental effects on international security and economic productivity and stability.