GENEVA: The Pandemic Fund’s first disbursements totaled US$338 million in 2023, supporting 37 countries to fund the initial response to acute events and scale up life-saving health operations in protracted crises, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Results Report 2023, revealed.
WHO continues to work with countries and partners to enhance genomic sequencing capabilities and strengthen laboratory and surveillance systems worldwide with capacity increased by 62 percent for SARS-CoV-2 between February 2021 and December 2023.
Established in September 2022, and formally launched under Indonesia’s G20 Presidency at the G20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia last November, the Pandemic Fund is the first multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to providing multiyear grants to help low- and middle-income countries become better prepared for future pandemics.
The Fund, which is hosted by the World Bank, has raised US$2 billion in seed capital from 25 sovereign and philanthropic contributors.
The WHO Results Report 202
3, which will be released ahead of the 2024 Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly, on 27th May – 1st June 2024, showcases achievements of key public health milestones, even amid greater global humanitarian health needs driven by conflict, climate change and disease outbreaks.
Source: Emirates News Agency