G20 ministers rush to finalise pandemic prevention fund

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the crucial meeting of leaders over the weekend, finance and health ministers from G20 nations are rushing to put together a new mechanism to combat Covid-type pandemics in the future.
While India's sherpa, Piyush Goyal, is already in Rome for the leaders' summit, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and health minister Mansukh Mandaviya are participating in the discussions, which may include a plan to set up a dedicated fund for pandemic prevention, a source familiar with the deliberations told TOI.
Another source said the discussions are focused on setting up a new entity, the Global Health Threats Board, which will indicate health funding and have an institutional mechanism to deal with pandemics in the future, especially when it comes to preparedness. The source, however, said that China is currently not on board.

In July, finance ministers from the G20 countries had "recognised the urgent need to be better prepared for future health threats" and taken on board the recommendations of a high level independent panel, which had, among other things, suggested an increase in public funding by $75 billion annually over the next five years as part of a plan to plug pandemic prevention and preparedness. A key proposal was to establish a new $10 billion annual Global Health Threats Fund in addition to $5 billion a year to increase funding of international institutions, and strengthen WHO. It had also suggested a dedicated pandemic preparedness concessional financing windows in the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs).
Last month, health ministers had endorsed the scheme and on Monday, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Indonesian finance minister Mulyani Indrawati issued a joint statement seeking the support of other members for the launch of a forum for health and finance coordination.
Indian government sources said that the modalities will be discussed by the FMs and the health ministers over the next few days so that the plan makes it to the final statement on Sunday.
Sources said that the climate talks will dominate the agenda for the leaders' meeting with India also raising the issue of anti-corruption mechanism and education and empowerment of women as areas where steps are required.