Pandemic Fund eyes $2B funding target to kick-start new strategic plan

The Pandemic Fund hopes to raise an additional $2 billion over the next two years, an ambitious but critical target, as it launches a new five-year, medium-term strategic plan. Securing the money is crucial to addressing critical gaps in pandemic preparedness globally. “We already raised $2 billion in the first year, and now we're asking for $2 billion more [for our short-term pledging moment] to help bridge the needs that we have until we get on to a more sustainable financing pathway,” Priya Basu, executive head of the Pandemic Fund secretariat, told Devex ahead of the World Health Assembly underway in Geneva. Established in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the Pandemic Fund was created as a dedicated financing mechanism to help strengthen countries’ pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, or PPPR, capacities, filling a gap in the global health architecture. To date, it has raised $2 billion, a large pot of money but short of the $10.5 billion in annual international financing that a joint World Bank and World Health Organization analysis found necessary to strengthen PPPR capacities. Its first call for proposals generated funding requests that were over $2.5 billion from more than 133 countries, more than eight times the allocated grant. But the demand keeps growing. For its second round of financing, which recently closed, the fund received funding requests of over $4.5 billion covering 140 countries, almost double the amount from the first round, and significantly beyond the fund’s grant allocation offer of just $500 million. Although vital, the $2 billion is a small amount still compared to the need. But Basu said this funding goal fits with the latest, revised calculation on necessary international financing for PPPR to deliver on the fund’s priorities for the next five years. In the fund’s revised financing calculation, it estimated that countries need $12 billion to $15 billion per year to build their PPPR capacity, with a third coming from international financing. “So we believe if we can deploy $1 billion [dollars] per year into impactful projects for low- and middle-income countries, and we can maintain our leverage ratio that was achieved in the first round, we can fill that international financing gap in [our] strategic areas, and at the same time, also work with countries to increase their own investments to fill the domestic [financing] gap,” Basu said. The fund will look to existing donors, both sovereign and philanthropists, for its fundraising strategy. But Basu said they are also “working hard” to grow its donor base, including middle-income countries that have not yet contributed to the fund. Countries such as Indonesia, China, India, and South Africa have already made contributions, and the fund is working to get additional similar economies to make contributions. Basu hopes Brazil, which will be hosting the Pandemic Fund’s pledging event on Oct. 31, will also pledge to the fund. The plan The new strategic plan sets out the Pandemic Fund’s medium-term ambitions. Under the terms, the fund will continue to prioritize investments in the health workforce, improving laboratory systems and surveillance, and ensuring that One Health, community engagement, gender equity, and health equity are integrated across their work. What does this imply in practice? It means that surveillance systems are not just focused on humans, but also on wildlife and the wider environment; that laboratory systems can test pathogens that arise in animals and humans; and that in building the capacity of the health workforce it includes doctors, nurses, primary health care and community workers, but also veterinarians and lab technicians, Basu said. The fund will focus on building the capacity of national public health institutes, and regional and global networks, organizations, or hubs “so that they can then oversee and ensure sustainability of these investments that we make,” Basu added. In terms of resource allocation, it will dedicate the majority of funding to countries with the largest gaps in PPPR capacity and at the highest risk of pandemics. Its technical advisory panel, composed of different experts and chaired by WHO, will play a key role in identifying these countries. The remaining resources will be made available to other low- and middle-income countries, regional and sub-regional entities, and global entities — resources permitting. This shows fundraising will play a key role in the fund reaching its ambitions. “Depending on how much we can mobilize, we also want to do a lot more in helping regional and global priorities, and helping as many countries as we can,” Basu said, adding that 145 countries and territories are eligible for fund grants. The fund’s board is exploring ways to get resources to countries more efficiently than its current model of calling for proposals. “We started with two calls for proposals, but we don't necessarily always have to announce calls for proposals. There are other ways to deliver financing,” Basu said. One option is offering rolling grants, which other funds do, that allow for grant applications at any time during the year. “The beauty of being a new institution is that you have the flexibility to adapt, and there's a lot of appetite for continuous learning and improvement at the Pandemic Fund,” Basu said.