PAX sapiens and UNICEF USA host discussion drawing lessons from Pandemic Preparedness (+plus)
Aspen, June 22, 2023. Yesterday, industry leaders, epidemiologists, and pandemic prevention thought leaders and philanthropists joined PAX sapiens and UNICEF USA in discussing lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic — as well as outbreaks that were prevented from becoming pandemics such as Ebola and Zika. The even offered attendees an opportunity to explore collaboration and enhance cross-sector commitment to strengthening global health security.
“Prevention takes persistence and foresight,” said PAX sapiens founder Marcel Arsenault “The nightmare for me is that we can stop the next pandemic, but we won’t.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 7 million deaths globally and will cost an estimated $12.4 trillion by 2024. “The COVID-19 exposed the world’s unpreparedness and set back decades of progress for children,” said Renée Cutting, Chief Philanthropy Officer at UNICEF USA. “We had to quickly adapt to new circumstances amid the pandemic, as we helped launch the largest vaccination campaign in history. It was critical for our fundraising efforts to not only achieve impact at-scale, but to engage philanthropic partners to invest in preparedness as well.”
From effective response mechanisms to donor coordination in pandemic prevention, this group of experts discussed their broad experience and explored prevention models designed to prevent future pandemics from emerging. Other topics included multilateralism, donor coordination among organizations with different focus areas, catalytic philanthropy, multilateralism, and preventing panic-neglect cycles of giving.
As one of the emerging foundations focusing on global pandemic prevention, Colorado-based PAX sapiens identified a unique approach to catalyze coordination and collective action across the philanthropic, private and public sectors.
PAX sapiens has been actively exploring opportunities to expand the role as a philanthropic group to bridge the gap between the industry and institutions through convening infectious disease experts and political leaders. In September 2021, as a part of the White House’s Global COVID-19 Summit, Arsenault announced a $200 million commitment to help future pandemics, to partner with other donors and global institutions to build a better global system.
Arsenault concludes “Hearing everyone’s thoughts gave me a lot of hope. At the end of the day this is all about having the right people in the room technically and systematically, and we have that in our room. As a human I am proud and hopeful.”
UNICEF USA works in the U.S. to support the world’s most vulnerable children by advancing the global mission of UNICEF. UNICEF partners with the public sector, private sector, and civil society to reach hundreds of millions of children each year with education, healthcare, nutrition, emergency response and more. The organization has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 response, continuing to help communities rebuild from pandemic-related disruptions and working to prevent disease outbreaks around the world.
Cutting noted that “By raising awareness about the benefits of proactive measures, philanthropists can engage policymakers, the public, and other donors to invest in preparedness efforts. This can help shift the narrative from reactive responses to proactive preparedness.”
UNICEF USA and PAX sapiens hope to continue the conversation around collaboration with the hopes of sparking catalytic philanthropy for preparedness.
