The Elders laud WHO public health emergency response efforts

"We need The Elders to carry WHO's voice and our vision into the world, and for countries to understand it,” said Dr Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Because together with countries, we can build health systems that are faster, smarter and more resilient.”

Three of The Elders four programmes—climate crisis, pandemics, conflicts and nuclear weapons—link directly to the work carried out by WHO’s Emergency Preparedness and Response programme.

“In Africa we are not facing a single outbreak,” said Dr Marie Roseline Belizaire, Regional Emergency Director at WHO Regional Office for Africa. “Countries are responding to multiple health emergencies at the same time—disease outbreaks, climate shocks, and currently we have 21 countries facing a humanitarian situation. This demonstrates the complexity and difficulty WHO faces to support countries.”

In 2025 alone, more than 2000 consignments of medical supplies and equipment were shipped from the hub’s warehouse to around 20 countries in the region. All these countries were responding to complex and urgent health emergencies, such as Ebola virus disease, Marburg virus disease, cholera, flooding and refugee crises.

A critical role of WHO’s health emergency operations is to build the capacity of countries’ ability to prepare and respond, leaving behind a more resilient health system and sustainable health response once the emergency has ended.

During the visit, WHO introduced the Preparedness Data Exchange, or PDX, to The Elders. PDX is an integrated, AI-enabled intelligence system is designed to support early, evidence-based decisions across the region. Launched in March 2026, PDX shortens the time between signal detection and coordinated response.

At its core PDX is an embedded artificial intelligence assistant that allows health officials to query live preparedness data in plain language and receive source-cited, auditable answers grounded in validated WHO datasets.

“The visual impact of what we have seen here is something we should make public, to bring home the importance of countries working together, and with WHO, using cutting-edge tools to address pandemic preparedness and response,” said Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico and member of The Elders.

The Elders were also taken through a facilitated simulation exercise to stimulate discussion on how they can shape high-level advocacy on pandemic preparedness and response ahead of the UN General Assembly later this year. This gathering will be an important forum for The Elders to advocate with Member States on the benefits of bringing the WHO Pandemic Agreement into force.

“This is an example of multilateralism working,” said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and member of The Elders. “The biggest lesson of what we have seen today is that preparing for, responding to and dealing with a pandemic is a global public good. This kind of global public good has a future that powerful countries should see.”

The high-level visit ended with a tour of the hub’s warehouse to bring to life the heart of WHO’s operations support and logistics to health emergencies to the 47 countries in the WHO African Region.

WHO hosted Elders Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia; Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico; Elbegdorj Tsakhia, former Prime Minister and President of Mongolia; Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Laureate during this visit.

"I am learning a lot. This is a best practice in Africa and a great cause for humanity," said Elbegdorj Tsakhia, former Prime Minister and President of Mongolia and member of The Elders. "The Elders have a voice and people listen to us. I am sure we will have great cooperation as a result of this visit."