The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) is calling for the immediate injection of at least $8bn new funding to bolster the global COVID-19 response.
The unprecedented rapid global spread of the virus and the profound health, social and economic impact mean urgent leadership from G7 and G20 leaders is needed to mobilize resources to fill funding gaps, the board says.
Earlier this week the World Bank committed up to $12 billion support for COVID-19 response at country level, and the IMF announced a $50bn package which will be key to supporting economies.
The GPMB welcomes both announcements, but there are critical gaps this funding does not address.
“It is clear that the prospect of a pandemic with multiple waves is increasing. This is impacting every level of society, placing enormous pressure on emergency healthcare, disrupting supply chains of vital medicines, resulting in businesses and schools closing. The outbreak is on course to cause economic losses greater than those of SARS, Ebola, Mers, and Zika combined", said Dr Gro H. Brundtland, and Mr Elhadj As Sy, Co-Chairs of the GPMB. “World leaders must act swiftly and generously to commit $8bn of new funding now to limit the human and economic costs of this crisis. Their leadership and support will be instrumental at this critical time.”
The GPMB calculates that the most critical funding gaps are:
- $1bn to support the World Health Organization emergency response
- $250mn to strengthen unmet needs in regional surveillance and control
- $2 bn for vaccine development
- $1 bn for distributed vaccine manufacture and delivery
- $1.5bn for research and development of treatments
- $500m for diagnostics development
- $1bn for manufacture and delivery of treatments and diagnostics
- $750mn for stockpiling vaccines and essential protective equipment (gloves, masks)
The Co-Chairs of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) have written to G7 and G20 leaders to ask for their support.
About the GPMB
As an independent international monitoring and advocacy body, the GPMB urges political action to prepare for and mitigate the effects of global health emergencies. Co-convened by the World Bank Group and the WHO, the GPMB works independently to provide expert assessments and recommendations on the state of global preparedness. The opinions and recommendations of the GPMB are those of the Board and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group and WHO.
The GPMB A World At Risk annual report is available here.
GPMB Website: http://gpmb.org
For more information, contact the GPMB Secretariat at gpmbsecretariat@who.int.
Members of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board include:
- H.E. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Co-Chair, GPMB; Former Prime Minister, Norway, and Former Director-General, World Health Organization
- Mr Elhadj As Sy, Co-Chair, GPMB, Chair, Kofi Anan Foundation Board, Former Secretary-General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
- Dr Victor Dzau, President, The National Academy of Medicine, USA
- Dr Chris Elias, President, Global Development Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
- Sir Jeremy Farrar, Director, Wellcome Trust, UK
- Ms Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
- Dr George F. Gao, Director-General, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, People’s Republic of China
- H.E. Dr Diane Gashumba, Former Minister of Health, Republic of Rwanda
- H.E. Sigrid Kaag, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, The Netherlands
- Professor Ilona Kickbusch, Chair of the International Advisory Board of the Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
- H.E. Professor Veronika Skvortsova, Former Minister of Health, Russian Federation
- Dr Jeanette Vega Morales, Chief Medical Innovation and Technology Officer, La Red de Salud UC-Christus, Chile
- Professor K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India