Copenhagen, Denmark, 16 March 2021 Today, the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development called on governments, economic and social stakeholders, and international organizations to rethink their broad policy priorities, to step up investments and reforms in health- and social-care systems, and to upgrade global governance of public goods, such as health and the environment. Unless all 3 efforts are vigorously pursued, it is unlikely that the world can avoid new, devastating pandemics or other global health crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the inequalities and deep fault lines that exist in many societies. It has revealed that our existing health, financial, economic and social-care systems were ill prepared and poorly equipped to address SARS-CoV-2 effectively.