Missing pandemic funds in risky times

By Dingaan Mithi:

On July 20 2023, a press release published on the World Bank’s website explained that the Pandemic Fund’s Governing Board approved grants under its first round of funding allocations aimed to boost the resilience to future pandemics in 37 countries across six regions.

The selected projects will receive funds to strengthen disease surveillance and early warning, laboratory systems and health workforce.

Established in September 2022, and formally launched under Indonesia’s G20 presidency at the G20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia, last November, the Pandemic Fund is the first multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to providing multiyear grants to help low and middle-income countries become better prepared for future pandemics.

The fund, which is hosted by the World Bank, has already raised $2 billion in seed capital from 25 sovereign and philanthropic contributors.

“We are very pleased that the Pandemic Fund has been able to move forward so quickly to allocate funding to projects that represent a good balance across geographical regions, country income groups and participating Implementing Entities,” the fund’s board co-chairs, Chatib Basri, former minister of Finance of Indonesia and Sabin Nsanzimana, Minister of Health, Rwanda, said.

Nsanzimana said the board worked diligently to ensure the selection process was inclusive and transparent, placing equity at the top of the mind.

He said all proposals were independently reviewed and evaluated by the Technical Advisory Panel.

“We are confident that the portfolio of projects selected by the board for funding will increase pandemic prevention, preparedness and response capacity and respond to the inequalities that Covid further revealed to the world,” Nsanzimana said.

It is still unclear why Malawi’s proposal got rejected, although Secretary for Health Samson Mndolo was quoted as having said it was not good enough.

The country was rocked by the Covid scandal where K6.2 billion was reportedly misused, and up to now, the culprits have not faced the law as many would have desired.

Some would speculate that lack of financial accountability and transparency in the pandemic response might have cost Malawi dearly from accessing the fund.

For five years, Malawi had no auditor general. Another assessment by the International Budget Partnership ranked the country on position 32 out of 120 countries and the report found weak procurement systems, no audits and failure to report on transparency and accountability.

However, the Pandemic Fund itself has come under fire for failing to accredit the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) as one of the implementing entities.

Some experts in the civil society blame the World Bank, which is the fund’s host, for apparently lacking accountability and sidelining civil society voices.

Africa CDC recently lashed out at the bank’s selection of the grantees in the first round of the Pandemic Fund where only five African countries will benefit, representing less than five percent of the continent’s population.

The countries are Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Togo and Zambia.

Africa CDC also criticised the fund for not allowing it to apply for grants independently on behalf of African nations so that it can coordinate this funding using a regional approach.

“Africa CDC remains concerned about the limited impact of this first allocation on pandemic preparedness, prevention and response (PPPR) in Africa due to its limited size and lack of regional approach,” the agency wrote.

In response to Africa CDC’s criticism, the Pandemic Fund says that it acknowledges the importance of Africa CDC, which is why it sits on the Pandemic Fund governing board, and that the agency can still apply for funding in partnership with accredited implementing entities — but it has chosen not to.

Speaking virtually at a media science café organised by Journalists Association Against Aids (JournAids) in Mzuzu, programme officer for Youth and Society, Mwandida Theu, warned that many low and middle-income countries, including Malawi, risk not accessing funding from the Pandemic Fund, which is oversubscribed, with country requests reaching a staggering $1.4 billion.

The fund can only provide $338 million in the first round.

“We need to monitor and address the global inequality in the Pandemic Fund. It is highly likely that many countries will miss the fund,” Theu said, even before the World Bank had announced the first round of grantees.

Already, Malawi is stressed with a K7.9 trillion debt and needs money for pandemic prevention and preparedness.

Missing on the Pandemic Fund further undermines the country’s ability to access financing to enhance its capacity.

In a paper title ‘Financial Justice for Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness’, Wemos, a Dutch organisation, notes that low-income countries and civil society’s representation was allowed on the Pandemic Fund’s board only after strong and widespread criticism.

“With an outdated funding model dependent on colonial charity, the likely competition with other global health funds and very low expectations regarding its leverage on medical innovation, this cannot be the world’s solution to funding PPPR. Not even if its fundamental design flaws are repaired,” Wemos said.