💥 Take Quick Action! Opportunities to create impact with a quick action are marked with a 💥 throughout the Playbook!
🌟 Welcome to a SPECIAL Playbook issue spotlighting the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) — the EU’s 2028-2034 budget. The MFF is being put together behind the scenes now, and we want to make sure external aid and climate finance increase in line with global needs — and do not get raided. Additionally, this issue digs into emerging pandemic threats, underlining the importance of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) policy adoption from the DRC to the U.S.
🎉 This will be our last Playbook of 2024 as we take some time to pause for the holiday season and the new year. See you in 2025!
|
|
Taking action for more and better aid.
|
|
70+ partners (and growing) around the world and across diverse sectors are coming together to call on the EU to commit to funding global development and climate action. PAN joins Global Citizen, ONE, Aidsfonds, and more to launch the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) Hub — a global advocacy platform built to push for more development and climate action funding in the EU’s next MFF.
Time for the EU to look outwards. Marking the Hub launch, PAN’s Eloise Todd shared, “Our partnership of 70 organizations from across the world will strive to shape a long-term EU budget that delivers on our most urgent challenges. Investing ambitiously and effectively in international action on climate, peace, health, and development is the only way the EU can thrive across 27 Member States and internationally. Our growing partnership of organizations will be urging the EU to look outwards, not inwards, in its future spending plans.” 💥 Quick post.
💥 Join 70+ partners in the Hub! We are proud to launch the MFF Hub with partners from across EU capitals, African partners, and beyond. The aim: Make this the most international campaign MFF advocacy has ever seen — help us get there! 💥 Join us! Partners will benefit from regular briefings, intelligence, and opportunities to take action. 💥 Questions? Reach out to PAN’s Kasia Lemanska!
💥 Other ways to take action:
- Bookmark the MFF Hub. The MFF Hub is rallying efforts to bolster the MFF while serving as a repository for all things MFF negotiations including process development, policy analysis, and commentary.
- Add your voice to our call-to-action petition.
- Are you an NGO based in an EU Member State? Join our Member States working group by reaching out to Kasia!
- Learn more on Dec. 11. Join PAN’s next Pandemic PPR Working Group meeting on Dec. 11 for a special MFF Hub briefing detailing priorities ahead.
What is the MFF, and why is it so important?! The EU is gearing up to adopt its new MFF long-term, 2028-2034 budget covering development aid and partnerships funding. With the new European Commission in office as of Dec. 1 and a proposal expected in June 2025, the budget is currently at the top of the Commissioners' to-do list. Big risks lie ahead — aid and climate finance are under threat as defense and EU competitiveness priorities take center stage. 💥 Go deeper on the issues:
💥 Mark these key moments for action ahead.
- Dec. 19-20, 2024: European Council meeting where EU leaders will discuss the EU's role in the world.
- March 20-21, 2025: European Council meeting where EU leaders will adopt recommendations on the next MFF.
- May 2025: Adoption of a report where Parliamentarians will outline their MFF positions.
- June–September 2025: The European Commission's MFF proposal on the MFF is released! This includes the overall funding and proposals for instruments (such as aid.) Negotiations begin shortly after and should end in 2027.
|
|
|
Amplify key MFF messages to EU leaders.
- Poverty, inequality, climate change, pandemics, and crises are escalating. New threats loom. Now is the time to step up.
- In today’s interconnected world, the EU faces a choice: Lead on global challenges or retreat. The EU’s long term budget can shape a future where people thrive, nations prosper, and our planet flourishes.
- To be a credible global leader and a better partner, the EU must invest to address global challenges. A peaceful, fairer world benefits everyone.
|
|
|
DRC outbreak remains undiagnosed. The world of pandemic PPR is back in the news for the wrong reasons. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — already affected by the mpox outbreak — has another outbreak unfolding in its remote Kwango province. WHO reported 406 cases and 31 deaths (Oct. 24 - Dec. 5) of an undiagnosed disease with fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body ache, affecting most commonly children. Teams continue to collect samples for lab testing. WHO noted that, “At this stage, it is also possible that more than one disease is contributing to the cases and deaths” with potential contributing factors such as malnutrition exacerbating the situation.
H5N1 threat continues to spread. U.S. human and dairy cow H5N1 case counts show no sign of stopping with 58 official human cases and 720 infected herds nationally as of Dec. 6 and increased H5 detections in California’s wastewater. Not included in the official case counts are two human cases in Arizona (the state’s first) and a possible case in a Californian child, bringing total cases up to 60 if confirmed. Nevada also announced its first H5N1 detection in dairy cows; confirmation is pending. While the WHO, FAO, and the U.K. are proactively taking steps with updated surveillance recommendations and stockpiling vaccines, the U.S. continues to tiptoe a fine line with a pandemic, grudgingly requiring milk testing nearly a year after the outbreak’s start and relying on luck rather than action. Experts continue to sound the alarm for the incoming U.S. administration to escalate PPR steps immediately amidst the potential confirmation of a historically anti-science leader. Given that a single H5N1 mutation could make it more infectious to humans, we cannot afford to rely on luck any longer.
INB — much work to be done. The resumed twelfth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiation Body (INB) negotiations last week came with clarity on two points: There will be no pandemic agreement this year, and much remains to be done. While there has been some progress on greening text, divisions still remain on the stickiest points of pathogen access and benefits sharing (PABS), tech transfer, financing, and prevention via One Health. Despite ambitions to reach agreement this year, negotiators are now looking at the World Health Assembly May 2025 deadline and considering pathways to finalize by then. Our call for action holds: Get it done! As PAN Executive Director and Co-founder Eloise Todd urged, “It’s time to deliver on this vital step forward that will benefit every country.” 💥 Quick post. 💥 Amplify PAN and partners’ joint statement. 💥 ICYMI! Catch PAN’s daily recaps — Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5.
IDA21 falls short. The World Bank’s International Development Association’s (IDA) twenty-first replenishment wrapped last Friday in Seoul with US$24 billion in donor contributions — mobilizing US$100 billion in concessional financing for the world’s most vulnerable countries. While the World Bank is correct in calling IDA21 “the largest replenishment in IDA’s history” and a “win” in a “challenging global landscape,” the replenishment ultimately falls short of ambition and global need. Donor countries’ pledges amount to just US$23.7 billion — a nominal increase compared to the previous replenishment’s US$23.5 billion, especially when inflation and exchange rate fluctuation are factored in. Still, there is progress to build on: 17 donor countries increased their contributions by more than 25% with some pledging 40%+. We urge donor countries and LMIC borrower states to keep up the momentum and upscale ambition to ensure adequate resources are mobilized and transparently used to meet critical needs including health, climate, and broader resilience.
Mpox — “Not out of the woods yet.” The continued mpox outbreak throughout Africa is facing persistent response challenges, especially in contact tracing, when infection prevention and control are critical. However, there are glimmers of hope as the Africa CDC estimates a plateau of cases by December’s end with a general decline toward late March 2025. WHO’s Dr. Matshidiso Moeti acknowledged positive signs in the response while calling for continued vigilance, cautioning, “We are not out of the woods yet.” 💥 Get the latest in PAN’s Mpox Insights & Actions: Making Sense of Mpox Trackers Dec. 3 Update.
Marburg bright spot. Rwanda’s latest Marburg outbreak update on Dec. 6 reported 35 days without a new case.
South Africa takes the G20 baton. South Africa officially launched their G20 presidency. The leadership handover from Brazil continues Global South leadership’s unique opportunities to advance the resilience agenda, as South Africa emphasized with its theme “Solidarity, Equity, Sustainability.” 💥 Mark your calendars for G20 key ministerials.
|
|
🦋 Hello Bluesky! You can now find PAN and RANA (updated handle!) on Bluesky. 💥 If you are on Bluesky, please give us a follow and share your handle with us to ensure we are highlighting our partner network in starter packs and in general.
Gavi’s High-Level Pledging Summit 2025 will be co-hosted by the EU and the Gates Foundation.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a new Global Strategy to promote innovation, cooperation, and equity.
Dr. Amadou Sall will join CEPI as Executive Director of Manufacturing and Supply Chain on June 1, 2025, upon completion of his tenure as CEO of Senegal’s Institut Pasteur de Dakar.
Share your thoughts on pandemic-related reform processes and initiatives in The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response’s survey. Submit responses by Dec. 20.
What we are reading:
The World Health Summit is hiring a strategic engagement manager. Apply by Jan. 25, 2025.
Have something to share with the Network? We accept communications, policy, and advocacy opportunities on a rolling basis.
|
|
|
|
