The G-20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response is calling for at least $75 billion-worth of investment in international public funding to address gaps in pandemic prevention and preparedness.
The proposed investment — $15 billion each year for the next five years, with sustained investments thereafter — is significant, but likely a paltry sum when compared to the potential cost of another major pandemic, which can cost government budgets 700 times over, according to a report of the panel.
The panel — co-chaired by Singapore Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, and World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala — comprises health and finance experts from governments, academia, the private sector, and international organizations.
The financing is meant to improve infectious disease surveillance, make countries’ national health systems resilient to future crises, address supply and delivery issues regarding vaccines and other medical devices, and strengthen global health security governance. It doesn’t yet include other needed investments, such as containing antimicrobial resistance and building inclusive national health and delivery systems.
The panel said the financing should be an add-on to existing resources for global health and development, calling any potential reallocation of multilateral and development aid resources to cover pandemic prevention and preparedness financing as “short-sighted” given the social and economic impact of COVID-19 in low- and lower-middle-income countries.
In addition, the panel called on international financing institutions to ensure countries are able to quickly access funding during a pandemic, such as through the establishment of or by strengthening “pandemic windows.” The International Monetary Fund should also “propose a framework of pre-established rules for relief on debt servicing that involves the participation of all creditors in restructurings instituted in future pandemics.”
The report adds to a growing list of recommendations on how the world can better prepare for the next pandemic. In May, for instance, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response proposed the creation of an International Pandemic Financing Facility to mobilize $5 billion to $10 billion per year to support pandemic preparedness efforts for a period of 10-15 years. Which of the many proposed actions will be adopted, however, is entirely dependent on governments.
Another governance structure
The panel also proposes establishing a Global Health Threats Board, which according to the panel, will complement the Global Health Threats Council, proposed by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.
The board would have a permanent and independent secretariat composed of health and finance ministers from a “G20+ group of countries” as well as heads of major regional organizations. It would provide financial oversight to ensure the “proper and timely resourcing of capacities to detect, prevent and rapidly respond to another pandemic, and to ensure the most effective use of funds.”
It also proposes the establishment of an independent scientific advisory panel and a Health Security Assessment Program. The program would provide “in-depth assessments of countries’ pandemic prevention and preparedness capabilities and investments.”
On the other hand, the panel would provide an analysis of emerging health threats and advice “based on the best available science,” and its functions can be taken up by a transformed Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, according to the report.
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Another proposal is the establishment of a Global Health Threats Fund funded by governments based on pre-agreed contributions and set up as a financial intermediary fund at the World Bank. The fund’s governance will be independent of the World Bank and would be led by an investment board that could serve as a Global Health Threats Board committee and whose function is to determine the fund’s priorities.
According to a news release, the G-20 will be considering the panel’s report and proposals “in detail in the lead up to the Joint Finance and Health Ministers meeting in October.”
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
