E. Financial Mechanisms for Emergency Pandemic Surge Response (Lesson
#2656)
Observation.
If financial response to global outbreaks of serious disease is delayed, the end cost will be substantially
higher in terms of lives and money. However, if financial assets are released quickly, outbreaks can be
prevented from becoming pandemics, saving people and economies. This is evident in the Pandemic
Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), created by the World Bank Group due to lessons from the West
Africa Ebola crisis in 2013-2016, which was effectively used to terminate the May 2018 outbreak of Ebola
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Discussion.
Pandemics are a serious threat, not only to global health, but also to economic security and to global efforts
to improve sustainable development and eradicate poverty. Estimates indicate that the annual cost of
severe pandemics around the world is 0.7% of global income (approximately $US 570 billion). While
outbreaks of serious diseases cannot be entirely prevented, they can be kept from becoming pandemics if
addressed early. A few million dollars towards early response could make the difference of billions of
response applied later.
This can be illustrated through lessons from the financial response to the deadly Ebola outbreak which
occurred in West Africa from 2013-2016, primarily impacting Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The
disease was first contracted in Guinea in December 2013 but not identified as Ebola until March 2014. On
8 August 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it to be a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern.
International response and funding to the crisis was delayed, which impacted global response. If $100
million had been mobilized by July, emergency response to the crisis would have been much quicker and
could have saved more lives. Instead, according to the WHO, this money was not available until 3 months
later. During those 3 months, Ebola cases increased tenfold. Over 11,000 people total died from the
disease. Furthermore, the monetary expense was extremely high. More than $7 billion was committed by
donors, and the outbreak had almost a $3 billion impact on the economies of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra
Leone.
Following the Ebola crisis, expert panels came together and concluded that improved global mechanisms
were necessary to respond more swiftly to pandemics. A significant part of the problem included a
financial gap between money that was available during early outbreak and the amount of assistance available
once an outbreak had reached severe levels. As such, it was decided to create a financial mechanism to fill
this critical gap.
Thus, the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) was designed by the World Bank Group (WBG)
in partnership with Japan, Germany, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the private sector in
order to provide surge funds for large-scale outbreaks of rare, severe diseases for low-income
countries. While all countries are susceptible to disease outbreaks, low-income countries often have weaker
health systems, are thus more vulnerable, and may have more difficulty raising the funds necessary for an
effective response. According to WBG President Jim Yong Kim, the PEF “is a critical part of our effort
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