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The largest economies seek to prevent a crisis due to another pandemic, which is why they launched a fund where foundations and more than 20 countries participate.
The Group of the 20 richest countries in the world raised 1,400 million dollars for a global fund to prevent future pandemics such as the one experienced with Covid-19, which left more than 6.6 million dead and paralyzed the world economy.
According to Bloomberg, the World Bank will manage the fund to help low- and middle-income countries, so that they can prevent and face future pandemics, with the commitment of more than 20 donor countries, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others.
“The amount that has been accumulated so far is just the starting figure,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, finance minister of Indonesia, the host country and head of the G-20 summit. “The estimated need is up to $31 billion, but this will not be the only instrument related to health system readiness,” he added.
Since last year, the G-20 began working on the creation of the fund under the presidency of Italy, when the countries were struggling to find enough money to fight the pandemic, with a deficit of up to 16,000 million dollars, according to the World Health Organization.
Three years after the appearance of Covid-19, Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, is pushing for equal access to the global health infrastructure, one of its priorities at the G20 meetings. That includes getting countries to harmonize health protocols and distribute research and manufacturing capacity for medical products.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo explained that 24 countries participate in this fund and its objective is “to prevent a pandemic and prepare for it.” “But it’s not enough,” Widodo said, warning that at least $31 billion is needed.
“We must ensure that the community can resist a pandemic. A pandemic cannot take lives and break the joints of the world economy,” he added.
The launch was led by the G20 Ministers of Health and Finance, and was attended by the Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the President of the World Bank, David Malpass.
With Bloomberg and AFP
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