How will COVID-19 transform global health post-pandemic? Defining research and investment opportunities and priorities

COVID-19 represents the greatest threat to global public health and economies in the 21 st century.To date, more than 100 million people have been infected and over 2.1 million died; likely the tip of the iceberg of this devastating pandemic [1].The impact on other pandemics and health challenges is masked by the continued dominance of COVID-19 on our lives.The economic and social impact is formidable and growing.In the United States (US) alone, the pandemic's total cost is estimated at more than US$16 trillion, or approximately 90% of the country's annual gross domestic product [2].No country or region has been spared; the crisis has laid bare stark weaknesses in almost every health care system.Within and between countries we have witnessed how already vulnerable and marginalized populations bear a disproportionate burden of infection, with reversal of the development gains made to date [3].The pandemic has also highlighted our interdependence.To achieve a new normal requires a coordinated, coherent and cohesive response that is effective globally for sustainability.For decades to come, we will undoubtedly continue critical reflection on why some countries, including less-resourced countries, have been able to respond more effectively to COVID-19, while some well-resourced countries have struggled.For now, a high priority in ending the pandemic, as well as accelerating the post-COVID-19 recovery, must be determining what an effective global response to COVID-19 entails.The papers forming this PLOS Special Collection, Post pandemic: How will COVID-19 transform global health?were conceived as a roadmap to catalyse a global health research and policy agenda necessary to end the pandemic, shape the post-COVID-19 global health recovery and lay the foundations for a more resilient global landscape to achieve the goals of sustainable development.While by no means comprehensive, we highlight several critical themes: investments in better pandemic preparedness; more invigorated efforts to address structural and systemic inequities within the sustainable development framework and universal health care; enhancing resilience of our health care delivery systems; and achieving greater accountability for our actions as a threat to one poses a threat to all.As papers in this Collection outline, COVID-19 has underscored the need for sustained investment in global health research.The speed and scale of vaccine development efforts, the proliferation of diagnostic tools and the development of several proven and promising therapeutic agents, are all evidence of where global science has triumphed and reflect decades of investments in biomedical research that could be rapidly brought to bear in the face of this