Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
It’s now more than four months since I declared an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency.
As the attention of world leaders moves to other crises – of which there are plenty – we are concerned that the lessons of the pandemic will go unlearned, and the cycle of panic and neglect will repeat.
The world was unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, and it remains unprepared for the next pandemic – and history teaches us that the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if.
Now is the time to invest in preparing for the pandemics of the future, and to strengthen the global architecture for health emergency preparedness and response.
The Pandemic Fund is a critical component of that architecture.
WHO is proud to be part of the Fund, and to provide technical leadership.
I thank the G20 countries, particular Italy and Indonesia, for their leadership in establishing the Pandemic Fund, and all those who have supported it.
The task now is to implement the projects funded in the first round – many of which WHO is supporting – and demonstrate their impact.
This first round has shown that countries have a real need for this type of funding assistance to support national pandemic preparedness strategies.
The demand is huge. For the first round, the Fund received 133 applications from over 120 countries, with requests for financing of over 2 billion U.S. dollars.
Given this level of demand, we would like to see an acceleration in disbursement in the second round.
I leave you with three major actions:
First, we seek the commitment of all donors to continue to capitalize the Pandemic Fund, in line with investment needs identified by countries;
Second, we seek the commitment of multilateral and bilateral health programmes to coordinate, align and integrate investments more effectively in support of domestic financing and national plans;
And third, we seek the commitment of all donors and countries to build resilience by integrating investments in health security with investments in health systems.
My thanks to Ajay Banga for your partnership, and to Secretary Yellen and all ministers here for your commitment and support for the Pandemic Fund.
We look forward to our continued partnership as we build a healthier, safer, fairer world together.
I thank you.