The Board of Directors of the World Bank approved, on Thursday, the establishment of a fund to finance investments in order to strengthen the capabilities of epidemic prevention, preparedness and response, as announced by the International Financial Corporation.
The focus should be on low- and middle-income countries, and the goal is to launch this fund in the fall, the World Bank said in a statement.
“The devastating human, economic and social cost of COVID-19 has revealed the urgent need for coordinated action to strengthen health systems and mobilize additional resources,” he added.
The World Bank added that this fund was developed with the push of the United States, Italy and Indonesia in the framework of their presidency of the Group of Twenty, and with broad support from this group.
He explained that “more than one billion dollars in financial commitments have been announced so far” to this fund, including contributions from the United States and the European Union as well as Indonesia, Germany, Britain, Singapore, the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.
In the statement, the President of the World Bank stated that this financial institution is “the largest financier of prevention, preparedness and response (for the epidemic) through operations currently under way in more than a hundred developing countries to strengthen their health systems.”
He added that the fund, which was called the “Financial Intermediate Fund – FIF”, will provide additional financing “in the long term to complement the work of existing institutions by helping low- and middle-income countries and regions prepare for the next pandemic.”
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, confirmed in a statement that the World Health Organization is participating in the project and will provide its technical expertise.
The fund will be used in many areas, including disease surveillance.
In a separate statement, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called the fund a “major achievement that will help low- and middle-income countries better prepare for the next pandemic.”
“Even as we continue to work to end COVID-19, today’s decision by World Bank shareholders will help build capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to epidemics in the future, enhancing health security around the world, including here in the United States,” she said.
A World Bank spokeswoman told AFP that if the Covid-19 epidemic does not end when the fund starts, it may support the fight once morest the current pandemic and future epidemics.
