After weeks consulting with governments across Latin America and the Caribbean, the World Bank announced Thursday $150 million in funding to combat the Zika virus and that it is prepared to offer more support if needed.
The funding commitment is roughly three times the amount requested Tuesday by the World Health Organization to implement its Strategic Response Framework and Joint Operations Plan, and roughly one-tenth the amount of funding the World Bank committed to battling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
The World Bank’s commitment will pay for vector surveillance and control, pregnancy and postnatal care for neurological complications, identification of individuals most at risk, family planning, public awareness, community mobilization and other activities to control the Zika outbreak, which has so far spread to more than 20 countries in the Americas.
About the author
Jeff Tyson@jtyson21
Jeff is a former global development reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers multilateral affairs, U.S. aid, and international development trends. He has worked with human rights organizations in both Senegal and the U.S., and prior to joining Devex worked as a production assistant at National Public Radio. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from the University of Rochester.
