MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

G20 devises “insufficient” pandemic response fund

The initiative seeks to avoid a health crisis and also to be prepared for one, explained Wikodo

Indonesian President Joko Wikodo Sunday announced the creation by the G20 countries of a special US$1.4 billion readiness fund for future pandemics.

The initiative seeks to avoid a health crisis and also to be prepared for one, explained Wikodo during a press conference. Nevertheless, the hosting country of the upcoming G20 Summit to be held Tuesday and Wednesday argued that such a sum was insufficient.

Ministers of Health and Finance of the G20 countries and three charities devised this scheme to strengthen health systems and control budget gaps over five years. The proposed fund takes as a reference point the management of resources during the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was explained through an official statement.

The global health crisis resulting from the spread of Covid-19 has shown that viruses “know no borders” and countries must work together to prevent a new pandemic in order to create a “more resilient health architecture.”

”When our health suffers, so does our economy. Joint work between (Ministries of) Finance and Health makes us stronger,“ Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.

Health ministers from G20 countries also agreed to re-evaluate the so-called ”Covid-19 Access Tool Accelerator,” an international program created to combat the pandemic, but which has failed to yield the desired results in the distribution of vaccines worldwide. Wealthier countries were reported to have acted selfishly to the detriment of less-favored nations.

Brazil and Argentina, Mercosur's two largest countries, are also members of the G20.