“The Council on the Economics of Health For All was established on 13 November 2020 by the WHO Director-General to rethink how value in health and wellbeing is measured, produced, and distributed across the economy. The Council aims to reframe health for all as a public policy objective, and ensure that national and global economies and finance are structured in such a way to deliver on this ambitious goal. The Council will aim to create a body of work that sees investment in local and global health systems as an investment in the future, not as a short-term cost.” (World Health Organization-November 13, 2020)
“We establish a G20 Joint Finance-Health Task Force aimed at enhancing dialogue and global cooperation on issues relating to pandemic PPR, promoting the exchange of experiences and best practices, developing coordination arrangements between Finance and Health Ministries, promoting collective action, assessing and addressing health emergencies with cross-border impact, and encouraging effective stewardship of resources for pandemic preparedness and response (PPR), while adopting a One Health approach. Within this context, this Task Force will work, and report back by early 2022, on modalities to establish a financial facility, to be designed inclusively with the central coordination role of the WHO, G20-driven and engaging from the outset Low- and Middle-Income Countries, additional non-G20 partners and Multilateral Development Banks, to ensure adequate and sustained financing for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.“ (G20 Leaders communique – Rome 31st October 2021)
Sustainability, Innovation and Multi-Annual Financing
As G20 Heads of Government and Finance Ministers have said recently, health financing is a long-term investment, not an expenditure.
To address the complex and sustained challenges of pandemic preparedness and response (PPR), donors should commit to a multiannual program of funding, at least for an initial five-year period.
Multi-year funding will enable the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) to focus on building core areas of programming, without constantly worrying about replenishment, particularly as it gets off the ground.
Donor countries, with no multi-year budgetary mechanisms, should commit long-term contribution schemes through other existing legal frameworks.
The FIF must promote innovative and blended financing mechanisms that leverage the FIF’s investments. In tackling climate change, governments, Multilateral Development Banks, philanthropy and the private sector are developing highly effective new partnerships working to achieve Net Zero.
The G20 Health and Finance Taskforce should create an expert group to identify best practice from green financing models that could be deployed by the FIF for investments in PPR. Read more
