Minister Of Health Hopes The Establishment Of A Pandemic Preparation Fund To Be Completed In September

LOMBOK - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin expects the formation of a pandemic preparation fund to be completed in September this year.

"Funds for the next pandemic have been formed, hopefully in September it will be formal, it will be under the World Bank," he said during the second Health Working Group press conference in Lombok, NTB, as reported by Antara, Monday, June 6.

Regarding the use and distribution of these funds, he recommended the World Health Organization (WHO), the article being that WHO better understands global health conditions and which priority countries need funding during a pandemic.

"We want the WHO here if possible, because WHO knows which countries should be prioritized," he said.

Minister of Health Budi also proposed embracing world institutions that had previously been successful in distributing such vaccines.

"In the previous pandemic, many world organizations such as the Global Fund, UNICEF, COVAX managed the informal distribution of vaccines throughout the world. So that must be formalized," he said.

That way, he continued, when there is a pandemic, the world organizations will have a better understanding of the distribution mechanism and determine which countries will be given first.

He conveyed that the currently collected pandemic preparation funds reached around one billion US dollars (around Rp. 14.5 trillion, at an exchange rate of Rp. 14,500).

"Indonesia has donated 50 million US dollars (around IDR 725 billion, exchange rate of IDR 14,500)," he said.

The Minister of Health added that the funds collected are targeted to reach as much as 15-20 billion US dollars. The distribution can be through world organizations such as GAVI and UNICEF.