US to commit additional USD 200 million to World Bank Fund to prevent pandemics

Washington [US], May 12 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States will commit an additional $200 million to the World Bank's fund to prevent pandemics during the virtual global covid summit that will take place Thursday morning, a senior US administration official told reporters.
"We'll be providing additional funding for the global health security and pandemic preparedness fund at the World Bank," the official said during a conference call. "Building on our initial seed pledge of $250 million to establish that fund, we'll be increasing our pledge by an additional $200 million for a total of $450 million."
The World Bank's fund will provide sustained financing for improving local, national and global capacity to prevent, detect and respond to pandemics and other disease or infectious disease threats, the US official said.
The United States will co-host the virtual COVID-19 global summit alongside Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal, the official said.
The summit will emphasize two points: the need for the global community to redouble efforts to control the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic and to ensure the world is prepared to respond to another pandemic.
Moreover, the official said there are three issues the international community needs to prioritize, including the need to address new sub-variants of the novel coronavirus that continue to emerge and continuing to fund global vaccination efforts, preventing deaths among the most vulnerable, and preventing future variants and pandemics.
The summit will be attended by representatives of world governments, multilateral organizations, philanthropies, businesses, and civil society leaders, the official said.
A US official said the United States did ask Russia to join the United States and its partners to combat and prevent infectious diseases.
The summit will call on countries to invest in the World Bank's new global pandemic preparedness and health security fund.
The Biden administration will emphasize during the summit that there is an urgent need for the US Congress to approve President Joe Biden's requested $22.5 billion in emergency funding to continue its novel coronavirus response, the US official said.
US President Joe Biden, US Vice President, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh, and White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha will participate in the summit, the US official said. (ANI/Sputnik)