COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) The Global Fund has started the process of giving US$320 million to various countries around the world. Since December 2022, the Fund has committed US$547 million in additional funding to 40 countries. The latest tranche is equivalent to approximately US$867 million. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-fund-provides-us867-million-additional-funding-pandemic-preparedness-and-response
At the end of a seemingly unrelenting pandemic that has lasted three years, the world has been left with a devastated health care system it has painstakingly built over the past 70 years. Even basic health care needs like infant immunizations, let alone treatment for diseases like TB, have become difficult if not impossible to reach in remote, impoverished and remote areas. The grants are geared to correct that imbalance by supporting both the immediate COVID-19 response and broader pandemic preparedness, while strengthening underlying health systems during the pandemic. This includes investing in disease surveillance, laboratory networks, community health worker networks and community-based organizations, medical oxygen and respiratory care systems, as well as novel therapeutics to enhance testing and treatment programs in case of future COVID-19. Rollout included. 19 boom. This brings the total funding for C19RM to nearly US$5 billion in 2020.
The Global Fund’s C19RM follows a country-led, inclusive and demand-driven approach to ensure funding goes where it is needed most. Uganda is an example of how the Global Fund Partnership is making a very important contribution to addressing gaps in disease surveillance and strengthening national laboratory systems to strengthen the capacity to detect COVID-19 and other pathogens.
“From the start of the pandemic, the Global Fund took the lead in supporting low- and middle-income countries like Uganda to increase testing for the new virus, leveraging 20 years of experience in procuring diagnostics and laboratory capabilities and disease Invested. Supervision. As recently as 2022, our robust surveillance systems enabled Uganda to timely detect, respond to, and ultimately control the outbreak in a record time of 69 days, Uganda’s Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ekeng Said.
Elsewhere, with a US$30 million investment from the Global Fund, the Indonesian government and the Genome Science Initiative have built facilities capable of performing whole genome sequencing to strengthen early diagnosis and treatment of deadly diseases including tuberculosis, COVID-19, cancer Established a nationwide network. , metabolic disorders, brain diseases and genetic disorders. This funding has benefited organizations such as the Center for Environmental Health Engineering and Disease Control in Batam, Indonesia, that are at the forefront of fighting disease today and preparing for future health threats.
The money is being used to purchase new equipment and train laboratory staff to help ensure that facilities across the country are able to use the new technology and transform the country’s health system.
“Before launching the initiative, lab staff in Batam had to send samples 1,100 kilometers away to a lab in Jakarta to do genomic sequencing, and it took more than two weeks to get results. Today, they can take more than five days are also able to get the same results in less time, which is critical in deciding how to respond and manage disease outbreaks as quickly as possible.The initiative will enable distributed laboratories across the country for genomic surveillance and bioinformatics analysis. capabilities,” said Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesia’s health minister.
As part of the process of making a second wave of awards of approximately US$320 million, the Global Fund invites countries to express interest in having their funding requests considered for inclusion in a potential Global Fund proposal. pandemic fund, which recently announced a call for proposals for US$300 million in funding. As there is a strong overlap in priority areas of investment for both C19RM and the Pandemic Fund, the Global Fund is exploring how countries can reduce any additional work and synergize investments funded from different sources be helped to maximize