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LONDON (Reuters) – A World Bank pandemic financing program will see $ 195.84 million distributed as early as next week among 64 of the world’s poorest countries that have reported cases of COVID-19 to help combat the disease. Rapid spread, the lender said Monday. .
The World Bank launched a series of instruments under its Pandemic Emergency Financing (PEF) program after the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia that killed at least 11,300 people to provide rapid financing to affected poor countries .
Bonds and swaps came under scrutiny after some failed to pay during the 2018 Ebola epidemic that killed more than 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and when they failed to pay earlier in the coronavirus crisis, which killed more of 200,000 infected people and almost three million worldwide.
Funding packages will range from $ 1- $ 15 million per country. More weight will be given to countries classified as fragile or conflict-affected, the World Bank said in a statement.
The funds will help countries finance critical and life-saving medical equipment, personal protective equipment, therapy and medicine, as well as support for health workers on the front lines of the crisis, he said.
While developed countries are funneling trillions of dollars into their own virus-affected economies, many emerging nations lack the financial means to mitigate the impact of the receding global economy or shore up their often fragile health systems.
The funds will add to the lender’s $ 160 billion commitment to fight COVID-19, the World Bank added.
The PEF program was designed to cover six viruses seen as the most likely to cause a pandemic.
Report by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Mark Potter
