Created in 2022, the Pandemic Fund (The Pandemic Fund) launched an international mobilization for investments this Wednesday (24), in Rio de Janeiro, during a parallel event to the meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents of the G20, a group formed by the 19 largest economies on the planet, plus the European Union and the African Union.
Designed after the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative is the first global financing mechanism dedicated to helping vulnerable countries combat pandemic outbreaks in the future.
“We all have a stake in preventing, detecting and managing health emergencies. That is the mission of the Pandemic Fund,” said the project’s chief executive, Priya Basu. To keep the fund going, the investment campaign aims to raise $2 billion in new financing over the next two years.
Formed by different institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank (IBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), in its first call for proposals, the project raised US$ 667 million from the US government and US$ 54 million from the German government.
Referring to President Joe Biden, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she believes “that a fully resourced Pandemic Fund will enable us to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics, protecting Americans and people around the world from enormous human and economic costs.” Sharing the same thought, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze highlighted that the initiative is “critical to achieving better global preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks.”
To boost local and global health security, FAO will participate in the implementation of 12 projects worth US$264 million as part of the first round of financing from the Pandemic Fund. The proposals involve the organization participating in partnership with governments and other agencies, such as the WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
*Intern under the supervision of Vinícius Lisboa
