Pandemic Testing: Can Better Diagnostics Reduce Delays?

Why are diagnostic tests central to pandemic preparedness?

Access to diagnostic tests was an explicit concern in the pandemic-preparedness appeal WHO published on March 20, 2024. The World Health Assembly subsequently adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement on May 20, 2025, with timely and equitable access to diagnostics among its objectives. These are established milestones: the original appeal should not be mistaken for a new announcement. Their practical significance lies in whether patients can obtain useful tests when an unfamiliar infection begins spreading. [WHO's preparedness appeal](https://www.who.int/news/item/20-03-2024-call-for-urgent-agreement-on-international-deal-to-prepare-for-and-prevent-future-pandemics), [WHO's adoption announcement](https://www.who.int/news/item/20-05-2025-world-health-assembly-adopts-historic-pandemic-agreement-to-make-the-world-more-equitable-and-safer-from-future-pandemics).

A diagnostic result becomes valuable when it leads to an appropriate action. During COVID-19, WHO emphasized that testing needed to connect with patient care and public health measures. Its guidance also recognized different roles for laboratory PCR and rapid antigen tests across transmission settings. The broader lesson is that preparedness requires a complete pathway from deciding who needs testing to communicating the result and arranging follow-up. A test that is developed quickly but remains inaccessible cannot deliver its intended benefit. [WHO testing strategy guidance](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-lab-testing-2021.1-eng).

How large is the gap in access to diagnostic services?

The commission examined pathology and laboratory medicine alongside diagnostic imaging. Its estimate therefore describes a broad weakness in healthcare access, rather than the proportion of people unable to obtain a particular pandemic test. It is also a historical estimate, not a measurement taken in October 2026. The analysis identified especially limited access among disadvantaged populations and emphasized that diagnostic services receive insufficient attention in health planning. For outbreak preparation, this provides evidence that many communities may enter an emergency with substantial existing service gaps. [The Lancet Commission on diagnostics](https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140673621006735/pdf).

The World Health Assembly's May 2023 diagnostics resolution addressed several practical barriers, including cost, workforce skills, equipment maintenance and infrastructure. It encouraged national diagnostic strategies and integrated service networks. The implication for pandemic planning is straightforward: purchasing instruments must be accompanied by funding for the people and services that keep them usable. A functioning diagnostic service needs dependable supplies, safe facilities and a route through which patients can access testing without prohibitive expense. [World Health Assembly resolution WHA76.5](https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA76/A76_R5-en.pdf).

What would a better prepared testing system look like?

WHO's account of laboratory cooperation during COVID-19 describes how existing influenza networks helped laboratories exchange expertise, refer samples and respond to increased demand. The same account identified weaknesses in specimen transport, equipment maintenance, quality management and laboratory information systems. These details explain why the speed advertised for an individual test is only one part of the patient experience: obtaining a sample, moving it to a laboratory and returning the result also take time. [WHO's laboratory networking report](https://www.who.int/news/item/03-12-2021-effective-networking-among-public-health-laboratories-in-south-east-asia).

Drawing on those findings, useful measures of readiness would include the time from sample collection to delivery of an actionable result, the frequency of unusable samples, and whether remote clinics can obtain confirmatory testing. These are practical assessment proposals, rather than evidence that any agreement has already reduced deaths or waiting times. WHO's wider laboratory approach also stresses trained staff, affordable tests and links between clinical and public health information. Together, these requirements make diagnostic readiness an ongoing health service responsibility. [WHO's laboratory diagnostics overview](https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-wer9616-125-132).