WHO URGES RICH COUNTRIES TO PAY 16 BLN FOR COVID-19 PANDEMIC PLAN

Wed 09 February 2022:

According to Bloomberg, the World Health Organization is asking wealthy countries to donate $16 billion to a program targeted at providing low- and middle-income countries with access to COVID-19 vaccinations, treatments, and testing.

Under the WHO proposal, higher-income nations would donate in proportion to their contribution to world trade, while middle-income countries would need to self-finance $6.5 billion additional costs, the United Nations agency said Wednesday.

The organization’s financing plan came after a muted response to its appeal in October to raise $23.4 billion for the ACT-Accelerator plan. Of the $16 billion requested to fund the main program, the WHO raised only $800 million.

Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called on rich countries to step up their support of poorer ones in order to accelerate the end of the pandemic. About half the world’s countries missed the WHO’s target to vaccinate at least 40 percent of their populations by the end of 2021.

According to the WHO, only 0.4 percent of the 4.7 billion Covid tests done worldwide were used in low-income countries. The ACT-Accelerator initiative intends to reach low- and middle-income countries with tests, treatments, vaccines, and personal protective equipment.

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