Statement by Pandemic Action Network Co-Founder Carolyn Reynolds on the decision by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors to establish a new Financial Intermediary Fund for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response: 

“Today’s decision by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors to establish a new global pandemic fund is an important step forward to heed the hard lessons of COVID-19 and make the world safer from pandemics. The fund offers the potential to marshal significant new financing to help prevent such a deadly and costly crisis from happening again. As the fund moves from concept to reality, global leaders should seize this opportunity to ensure it is catalytic, inclusive, and accountable. 

“The COVID crisis has shown us that pandemic prevention and preparedness is in everyone’s interest, and it should be everyone’s business. The US$1.1 billion pledged to the fund thus far is still a fraction of the estimated US$10 billion annually that global health and finance experts agree is urgently needed to bolster the world’s pandemic defenses. We urge more governments, philanthropies, and other funders to seize this moment to pandemic proof our collective future by stepping up and investing in this new fund.”