- The Fund supports development of diagnostics therapeutics, and vaccines
- Additional funding brings foundation commitment to more than $250 million
- The fund will strengthen African and South Asian health systems, and help mitigate the social and economic impacts of the virus
After criticizing US President Donald Trump’s move of freezing funds for the World Health Organisation, the co-founder of Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates pledged $150 million to the global response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Melinda claimed that citizens have “responsibility” to combat the global health crisis that has now infected over two million people in the world. Earlier, when Trump announced that the US would stop funding the United Nations health agency, Melinda had said that it is “as dangerous as it sounds” because “world needs WHO” especially during a pandemic. The additional contribution of $150 million to the total commitment of the Gates Foundation to coronavirus outbreak is over $250 million.
The additional commitment of funds by Gates Foundation came as Trump accused WHO to be “China-centric” and said the organisation “failed in basic duty” of handling the outbreak.
According to the official statement by Gates Foundation, the philanthropists can afford to take certain risks during the pandemic that “governments can’t and corporations won’t”.
Therefore, in the wake of “emergency situation like this,” they have contributed funds for an effective fight against COVID-19 outbreak.
How will the Funding help contain COVID19?
The increase includes an additional $150 million of grant funding plus a commitment to leverage the resources of the foundation’s Strategic Investment Fund, which could be deployed to catalyze the rapid procurement of essential medical supplies and help life sciences companies secure financing to produce COVID-19 products. In announcing the funding, the foundation called on world leaders to unite in a global response to COVID-19 to ensure equitable access to diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines
