26 May 2026
Trillion-Dollar Pandemic Agendas: Starving Basic Health for Inflated Biosecurity
I invited Professor Garrett Wallace Brown to discuss his work examining the data behind trillion-dollar global pandemic preparedness agendas and how those agendas are impacting the world’s poorest nations. The basic public health programs that save the most lives (malaria, tuberculosis, nutrition, sanitation, maternal health) are losing funding to biosecurity initiatives built on risk models that are grossly inflated and cost estimates that don’t add up.
Garrett has spent more than 25 years in global health, often with a seat at the table where very high-level decisions are made. Through his work consulting for the WHO and World Bank, and as a principal investigator on REPPARE (https://brownstone.org/reppare/) (RE-evaluating the Pandemic Preparedness And REsponse Agenda), he has evaluated the source data being used to drive enormous pandemic budgets and found serious problems with how risk, severity, and cost have been calculated. He is also part of a team developing a blueprint for what an ideal global public health organization could look like through the International Health Reform Project (https://brownstone.org/ihrp/). His full bio is in the show notes below.
Garrett’s impartial and circumspect approach to the material brings much-needed clarity to a crucial and too often sensationalized discussion.
We close out with some practical advice from Garrett on how to read and evaluate news headlines about viral outbreaks. I found it very useful.
More information about Garrett Wallace Brown and where to find him:
Bio: Garrett Wallace Brown is Chair of Global Health Policy at the University of Leeds, UK. He is Co-Lead of the Global Health Research Unit and research collaborator with the WHO on health emergency evidence and analytics. His research focuses on global health governance, health financing, health system strengthening, health equity, and estimating the costs and funding feasibility of pandemic preparedness and response. He has conducted policy and research collaborations in global health for over 25 years and has worked with NGOs, governments in Africa, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the UK Cabinet Office, WHO, G7 and G20.
University of Leeds Profile (https://www.leeds.ac.uk/online-courses/dir-record/profiles/22896/professor-garrett-wallace-brown)
Latest Publications 2026:
* From pathogens to policy: using network analysis to map the knowledge base on human–zoonotic disease dynamics underpinning global pandemic policy, Health Research and Policy and Systems (2026): 10.1186/s12961-025-01434-5 (http://10.0.4.162/s12961-025-01434-5)
* Rethinking Global Health Reform After Covid-19: Legitimacy Before Authority, International Health Policies (2026): https://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/featured-article/rethinking-global-health-reform-after-covid-19-legitimacy-before-authority/ (https://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/featured-article/rethinking-global-health-reform-after-covid-19-legitimacy-before-authority/)
* Closing the Deal? An Examination of the 2025 Report of the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response: REPPARE report (https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/274/closing-the-deal) (2026).
* The Right to Health Sovereignty. Policy Report (https://internationalhealthreformpanel.org/reports/the-right-to-health-sovereignty-policy-report-april-2026). International Health Reform Panel. 164 pages.
* The Right to Health Sovereignty. Technical Report. (https://internationalhealthreformpanel.org/reports/the-right-to-health-sovereignty-technical-report-april-2026) International Health Reform Panel. 249 pages.
Supporting Health Initiatives Report
* Increasing African Government Membership on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, report commissioned by SHI in advance of the South African G20 Leaders Summit (2025). Report. (https://www.supportinghi.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/INCREASING-AFRICAN-MEMBERSHIP-GFATM-1.pdf)
REPPARE Reports
* ‘The cost of pandemic preparedness: An examination of costings and the financial requests in support of the pandemic prevention, preparedness and response agenda’ (2024): https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/234/the-cost-of-pandemic-preparedness-an-examination-of-costings-and-the-financial-requests-in-support-of-the-pandemic-prevention-preparedness-and-response-agenda (https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/234/the-cost-of-pandemic-preparedness-an-examination-of-costings-and-the-financial-requests-in-support-of-the-pandemic-prevention-preparedness-and-response-agenda)
* Rational policy over panic: A report on zoonosis spill-over risk assessments in pandemic preparedness and response policy (2024): https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/228/rational-policy-over-panic (https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/228/rational-policy-over-panic)
IHRP Reports (International Health Reform Project)
* The Right to Health Sovereignty. Policy Report (https://internationalhealthreformpanel.org/reports/the-right-to-health-sovereignty-policy-report-april-2026). International Health Reform Panel. 164 pages.
* The Right to Health Sovereignty. Technical Report. (https://internationalhealthreformpanel.org/reports/the-right-to-health-sovereignty-technical-report-april-2026) International Health Reform Panel. 249 pages.
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