The World Health Organization-led coalition fighting the coronavirus or COVID-19 requires $31.3 billion during the next 12 months for developing and rolling out tests, treatments, and vaccines, it mentioned on Friday.
It is claimed $3.4 billion had been given as a contribution to date, leaving a funding gap of $27.9 billion, out of which $13.7 billion was required urgently. The initiative of WHO aims to scale up delivery of around 500 million tests and 245 million courses of treatments to low-and-middle-income nations by mid-2021, it mentioned in a statement.
WHO Requires $31.3 Billion for Fighting COVID-19
It also aims to scale up delivery of two billion vaccine doses, including 1 billion to be bought by low- and middle-income countries, by the end of 2021. The WHO is working with a large coalition of drug-development, funding, and distribution organizations under what it is calling the ACT-Accelerator Hub.
In an update on the ACT-Accelerator initiative, launched in April to speed up research and development for the new disease, the WHO and global health groups said the coronavirus pandemic is still threatening millions of lives and scores of economies.
"The investment required is significant, but it pales insignificance when compared to the cost of COVID-19," it said in a statement. "The total cost of the ACT-Accelerator's work is less than a tenth of what the IMF estimates the global economy is losing every month due to the pandemic. 468,000 thousand people have already lost their lives."
(With agency inputs)
