Advancing coordination of pooled procurement for health emergencies: second joint WHO-DG HERA workshop
World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA), with support from the Regionalized Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative (RVMC), hosted the second workshop on regional pooled procurement mechanisms for health emergencies on 8 June 2026. Held on the sidelines of the Global Health Security Conference in Kuala Lumpur, the workshop convened partners from WHO, RVMC, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Thailand’s National Vaccine Institute, the National University of Singapore, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
The workshop strengthened a growing community of practice on pooled procurement, advancing joint WHO–HERA efforts in this area. It demonstrated the value of the interim Medical Countermeasures Network (i-MCM-Net) in bringing together regional and global actors in a single forum to align approaches to access, procurement and coordination across regions.
Opening the discussion, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Director a.i. of WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, emphasized the importance of situating pooled procurement within a broader system response. “Regional pooled procurement mechanisms are part of a broader ecosystem that can respond faster, more equitably and dynamically to threats,” she said.
Discussions focused on how national, regional and global procurement mechanisms interact in practice, moving beyond conceptual framing towards operational questions. Participants explored how pooled procurement can support equitable access to medical countermeasures (MCMs), including in relation to donation policies and allocation approaches, and how these systems connect to wider elements of the MCM ecosystem, such as regional manufacturing, stockpiling, and research and development.
A key area of discussion was the role of financing as a critical enabler of effective pooled procurement. Contributions from multilateral development banks highlighted the importance of financing mechanisms that go beyond procurement itself, including pooled financing approaches, pre-financing arrangements, and demand guarantees, while recognizing that financing alone does not ensure access. Ensuring that financial tools are linked to demand signals and governance frameworks was seen as essential to translate commitments into delivery of MCMs.
Laurent Muschel, Deputy Head, DG HERA, highlighted the operational value of structured global–regional coordination, noting, “i‑MCM‑Net has been very useful to coordinate and prioritize procurement requests that reach HERA during the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, hence reducing duplication.” He also stressed the importance of fast and agile allocation mechanisms, grounded in science and public health needs, to ensure timely access to diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics and other health products during emergencies.
From the regional manufacturing perspective, Luigi Bonfatti, RVMC Secretariat Executive Team, underlined the importance of learning across regions, stating that “sharing progress and pitfalls among regional entities is a key to success.”
Across sessions, participants agreed on the need to strengthen alignment between global coordination, regional implementation and national decision-making. This includes investing in regional procurement mechanisms during preparedness phases, building trust ahead of crises, and ensuring that emergency surge mechanisms can transition into sustainable demand and financing models.