This report considers the findings of four workshops convened by the United States National Academy of Medicine during the summer of 2015. The workshops explored the potential for improving international management and response to a potential pandemic. Summaries of the four workshops can be found on the National Academy of Medicine’s website at https://nam.edu/initiatives/global-health-risk-framework/. The resulting report translates those findings into actionable recommendations. The report focuses on the role of pandemic preparedness in a country’s national security and economic stability and argues that mitigating future pandemics must then require the mobilization of several different sectors. Its recommendations specifically encompass three broad areas: reinforcing national public health capabilities; reinforcing international leadership and coordination for pandemic preparedness and response; accelerating research and development in the field of infectious diseases.

The National Academy of Medicine agreed to convene an independent, international group of experts in the wake of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. The resulting commission, the Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework for the Future, comprises 17 members from varying countries and academic backgrounds. The commission's goal is to provide recommendations for improving the international response to outbreaks of infectious disease. Several large nonprofits funded the commission, including the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, and many others. The commission published this report in 2016 and has not published any follow-up reports. The report is currently only available in English.