To avoid a repeat of Covid-19, the G-20 has established an R25bn global pandemic fund

The Group of 20 countries has raised $1.4 billion (R24.9 billion) for a global pandemic health fund in order to prevent a repeat of the Covid-19 outbreak, which killed over 6.6 million people and crippled the global economy.

The World Bank will manage the fund, which will help low- and middle-income countries prevent and respond to future pandemics, with contributions from more than 20 countries, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. More donations are expected.

“The amount that has so far been accumulated is just the starting figure,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, finance minister of Indonesia, the host nation and head of this year’s G-20 summit. “The estimated need is up to $31 billion, but this will not be the one and only instrument related to health system preparedness.”

The G-20 nations began work on establishing the fund last year under Italy’s presidency, as countries struggled to find enough money to combat the pandemic, with a shortfall of up to $16 billion estimated by the World Health Organization.

Three years after the start of Covid-19, Southeast Asia’s largest economy is making equal access to global health infrastructure a priority for G-20 meetings this year. This includes coordinating health protocols among countries and distributing research and manufacturing capacity for medical products.

“This will provide a starting point for all of us to demonstrate to the world that G20 is able to produce concrete action that can have a global impact,” Indrawati stated this on Sunday at the fund’s launch in Bali.