The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group and the World Health Organization are stepping up cooperation in preparation for the pandemic

The leaders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group (WBG) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed on broad principles for cooperation in preparing for the pandemic. This cooperation will enable increased support to countries in preventing, detecting and responding to threats to public health through the IMF Trust for resilience and sustainability (RST), the financial and technical support of WBG and the technical expertise and capabilities of WHO in the country. The RST allows eligible member countries to access long-term financing at low interest rates to help implement reforms that address structural challenges to economic stability, such as those posed by pandemics, and to improve the resilience of countries' health systems.

Acting within their mandates and policies, the IMF, the World Bank and the World Health Organization will use their expertise to improve pandemic preparedness in their member countries, building on the synergies and complementarities of each institution's analysis and operations in the country. This cooperation will strengthen the design and articulation of effective policy, institutional and public financial management reforms supported by the IMF A means of resilience and sustainability (RSF), policy and investment reforms supported by the World Bank, and technical and operational support provided by the WHO. In strengthening the pandemic preparedness framework, member countries will also work to improve the resilience of their health systems and the ability to better respond to all health emergencies.

According to the broad principles of coordination:

• WHO and the World Bank will continue to take the lead in health-related development policies and, with other multilateral development banks and Pandemic fundon specific investments in pandemic preparedness projects. RST funding will not be earmarked for specific projects.
• Pandemic preparedness policy reform measures supported by RSF arrangements will build on existing data, analytics and operational engagement from WHO, WBG and government authorities.
• Pandemic preparedness reforms will be based on each institution's area of ​​expertise. RSF programs will focus on macro-critical policy reforms within the IMF's expertise and complement the work of the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) to maximize the financial resources and technical expertise available to countries. RSF reform measures may include policy actions aimed at increasing the readiness of financial and health systems to respond effectively to future health emergencies.

Thanks to this enhanced collaboration between the IMF, WBG and WHO, the three institutions will better serve countries' pandemic preparedness efforts.

Kristalina Georgieva, director of the IMF, said: “Enhanced collaboration with the World Bank Group and the World Health Organization will help our institutions complement each other and leverage expertise to help our members strengthen pandemic preparedness and increase the resilience of their health systems.” The IMF's Resilience and Sustainability Trust enables eligible member countries to access affordable, long-term financing to address the structural challenges that threaten their macroeconomic stability.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for new sources of funding to strengthen health systems so they are better able to prevent and detect outbreaks and pandemics, and to respond and resist them when they strike,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director. -General. “WHO is proud to work with the IMF and the World Bank to unlock funding from the Resilience and Sustainability Foundation and support countries to launch it for a safer world.”

“We need to aggressively plan and prepare for the next global health crisis, so that when the battle comes – and we know it will – that we have a health workforce that can be deployed quickly in the event of a crisis, laboratories that can quickly ramp up testing and increased capacity to can invite to respond,” said World Bank Group President Ajay Banga. “This deepened collaboration focuses our response on helping states better prepare for and respond to public health threats.”