Pandemic preparedness is an evolving global priority requiring integrated strategies that encompass Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), public health, governance, and community engagement. This chapter explores the interconnections between IPC and pandemic preparedness, grounded in historical evidence and emerging paradigms. Lessons from SARS, H1N1, Ebola, and COVID-19 underscore the necessity of early detection, community trust, vaccine equity, and rapid innovation. Technological advances such as artificial intelligence, wastewater surveillance, and whole genome sequencing are revolutionizing disease forecasting and outbreak containment, yet they risk exacerbating inequities without deliberate policy interventions. The WHO’s Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience (HEPR) framework, the revised International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), and new global strategies on IPC set the stage for more coordinated, resilient responses. Nevertheless, contested areas—such as the expanding application of IPC outside healthcare settings, persistent global health inequities, and the fragility of health systems in humanitarian crises—demand renewed scrutiny. The chapter also highlights the crucial role of community health workers, adaptive healthcare infrastructure, and robust supply chain strategies in ensuring systemic resilience. Legal and nonbinding governance instruments—ranging from the WHO IPC framework to regional regulatory mechanisms—are discussed as foundations for coordinated action. An equity-centered, context-specific, and multidisciplinary approach emerges as essential for future pandemic preparedness, especially in the face of global challenges like climate change, geopolitical instability, and antimicrobial resistance. Ultimately, IPC must be repositioned as both a core public health function and a driver of resilient, inclusive systems prepared to prevent and respond to pandemics across diverse settings.