Sustainable financing scheme necessary for future pandemics: G20

JAKARTA: Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of G20 nations met for a two-day meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia. The leaders addressed the issue of need for sustainable international financing scheme to build global resilience in facing potential future pandemics and to reduce gaps in health systems among countries.

Mulyani Indrawat, Minister of Finance, Indonesia, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that the global health system is not ready to face the pandemic and that global financing system is inadequate. Therefore, she was of the opinion that G20 members should collaborate to build a more resilient global health system, which she added would require greater investment and financial resource mobilisation.

David Malpass, President, World Bank Group suggested G20 countries to build multilateral platforms that could help in developing low-income nations. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India noted that low and middle-income nations are in need of global support because they do not have enough resources to deal with the pandemic. She also asked the G20 member nations to ensure expeditious and equitable distributions of vaccines. She said that it is one of the simple ways to bridge the gaps in global pandemic preparedness.

Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Minister of International Development, Government of Norway, proposed that besides the vaccines, countries must also coordinate to build stronger healthcare infrastructures by increasing international investment in health society. She added that nations need to avoid fragmentation and push for inclusiveness. Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary suggested a new separate global health fund as a global investment for pandemic prevention and preparedness. She proposed that the fund be directly controlled by donors and used for delivering emergency funds, vaccines, and other medical needs.