I would like to acknowledge the central role of the WHO in fighting the pandemic and the importance of including the voice of developing countries in our institutional arrangement to create the most effective system for pandemic preparedness and respJakarta (ANTARA) - The leaders of 19 countries with the largest economies in the world and the European Union have emphasized the importance of finance for building better global health security in response to the devastating pandemic.
In the G20 Rome Leaders’ Declaration released in October 2021, the leaders acknowledged that financing for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response has to become more adequate, more sustainable, and better coordinated.
It requires continuous cooperation between health and finance decision-makers, including to address potential financing gaps, mobilize an appropriate mix of existing multilateral financing mechanisms, and explore setting up new financing mechanisms.
The G20 leaders have also conveyed their support for the ongoing work on strengthening the leading and coordination role of an adequately and sustainably funded World Health Organization (WHO).
Following last year’s declaration, G20 members and several relevant international organizations have agreed to work together to create the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) to help countries in need to face any pandemic in the future.
To date, the G20 has pushed for an emergency fundraising commitment of around US$1.1 billion from five member countries and one international social organization to mobilize the role of FIF.
The pledges have come from the United States, the European Union, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Wellcome Trust.
During the 1st G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministerial Meeting held in Yogyakarta on Tuesday, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati underlined the urgent need for collaboration between the health and finance sectors to better prepare for future pandemics, considering that the COVID-19 will not be the last.
“The world is definitely watching us ... how the G20 are going to respond with delivering concrete action in pandemic preparedness and response. The world is waiting for us,” Indrawati remarked.
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Furthermore, she also asserted the importance of inclusivity in the work of FIF, led together by the WHO and the World Bank, which requires the involvement of both developed and developing countries.
“Only then, we can be effective in preparing to tackle the next global pandemic together,” Indrawati said.
“I would like to acknowledge the central role of the WHO in fighting the pandemic and the importance of including the voice of developing countries in our institutional arrangement to create the most effective system for pandemic preparedness and response,” she added.
The WHO and the World Bank have estimated that US$31 billion will be required annually for strengthening global health security, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the 1st G20 Health Ministerial Meeting in Yogyakarta on Monday (June 20).
About two-thirds of that fund could come from existing resources, but that still leaves a gap of US$10 billion per year. Hence, he said he expects the FIF to help close that gap.
The WHO and the World Bank have been cooperating to establish the FIF, which will be overseen by a board that takes a decision on funding allocation supported by a technical advisory panel.
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Both the board and the technical advisory panel would be supported by the joint WHO-WB secretariat based at the bank’s headquarters in Washington, with assisting staff from the WHO.
According to the plan, the World Bank will provide financial and administrative leadership at the secretariat, operate as a representative for the FIF, hold and transfer relief funds, as well as provide administrative services.
Meanwhile, the WHO will provide technical leadership; coordinate inputs for the technical advisory panel; and prepare the relevant technical documentation, recommendations, and reports for the council.
Both the World Bank and the WHO will act as implementing entities, along with other global health partners with relevant expertise, including the Global Fund, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
“We look forward to your active participation in building and financing a FIF that is inclusive, equitable, and effective in making our world safer from pandemics,” Ghebreyesus said.
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The world must not only focus on FIF as a source of funding to face future pandemics, it must also think about uses for the fund, Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.
“Because money is (only) half the solution to the health crisis. We need to translate this money into access to vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic tools,” he added at a press conference after the joint ministerial meeting.
In order to create such access, he explained, engagement with private sector players as producers of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics is crucial.
“We need to talk to them, to engage with them. How can they maintain a certain volume commitment? How then we will be able to distribute equally and very quickly if the next pandemic happens?” he asked.
The discussion on the establishment of FIF is still ongoing and will be taken up in the next G20 meetings, hosted this year by Indonesia.
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As the G20 President, Indonesia will continue to gather as much support as possible from more countries as well as international organizations, even philanthropists, to secure the financing of pandemic preparedness and response.
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Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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