WHO is issuing the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) for 2021 and accompanying documents as a package aimed at guiding the coordinated action that we must take at national, regional, and global levels to overcome the ongoing challenges in the response to COVID-19, address inequities, and plot a course out of the pandemic.



Over the past year, much has been achieved by national authorities and communities with the support of WHO, donors and partners, and an unprecedented effort by the scientific community and the private sector.

The Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan 2021 (SPRP2021) builds on what we have learned about the virus and our collective response over the course of 2020, and translates that knowledge into strategic actions. This plan builds on achievements and also focuses on the new challenges, to mitigate, for example, risks related to new variants. The plan also considers the road we need to travel towards the safe, equitable and effective delivery of diagnostics and vaccines as part of the overall strategy to successfully tackle the COVID-19 pandemic .

As leader of the global incident management support team (IMST) structure, the UN Crisis Management Team (UNCMT), and as a founder of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, WHO harnesses the world’s technical and operational expertise to translate knowledge into coordinated action.