COVID-19 has highlighted the urgent need for collective action to augment the existing global health security financing system and to mobilize additional resources to build health systems and strengthen capacity for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR). Avoiding future pandemics requires investing substantially more in PPR; these investments will help avert the much larger costs that the world would incur if we were to be caught unprepared for the next global health crisis. Countries must step up domestic investments in the core capacities needed to strengthen health preparedness and prevent and contain future pandemics, in accordance with the International Health Regulations. This must be complemented by enhanced external financing, particularly for developing countries. The joint World Bank-WHO paper on PPR financing needs and gaps1 , prepared for the G20 Joint Finance and Health Task Force, estimated that external financing amounting to an additional US$10.5 billion per year, over the next five years, is needed for investments at the country, regional and global level to strengthen the capacity of low-income countries (LICs) and middle-income countries (MICs). PPR is a global public good. Mobilizing the needed external financing to strengthen PPR in low- and middle-income countries and regions that are the most fiscally stretched and in need of financial support is the collective responsibility of the international community.
WB
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