“The pandemic is not over and neither are its economic consequences,” warns the WHO

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned this Thursday that “the pandemic is not over and neither are its economic consequences”, and urged a greater contribution from the main economies of the globe. .

Tedros spoke by videoconference in a panel organized on the sidelines of the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 countries that takes place between today and tomorrow in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The director of the who He welcomed the fact that the G20 Finance meeting included a discussion on the health crisis, since the pandemic, he said, “requires the commitment of all sectors, especially the financial sector.”

He made a direct appeal to the finance ministers of the world’s leading economies: “Please fill the existing gap and let’s end the pandemic”he urged, asking them to donate 16,000 million dollars this year.

Tedros He specified that sum of money a few days ago, which would be destined for the ACT Accelerator, the program with which the WHO and other agencies finance the distribution of vaccines, treatments, tests and other tools against COVID-19.

“We are facing a dilemma and that is that significant investments are needed at a time when many countries are feeling the bite (of the pandemic)”he added today.

But he insisted that a “lesson” to be learned from the pandemic is that “health is an investment, not a cost.”

Also participating in the panel were the Italian Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza; his Indonesian counterpart, Budi Gunadi Sadikin; and the Norwegian Minister for International Development, Anne Breathe Tvinnereim.

What’s more, Tedros He highlighted that 31,000 million dollars are needed annually for programs to fight epidemics, without being clear if the 16,000 million are framed within that package.

Although he admitted that discussing the prevention of future epidemics is “vital”, he clarified that this “should not distract us from the present”.

Tedros He anticipated last Monday that the possibility that the pandemic is under control in 2022 is still there, but the world “is at a growing risk of wasting it.”

As many as 116 countries could miss the global target of 70 percent of humanity having been vaccinated against the virus. COVID-19 in the middle of the year, a goal that experts consider necessary to achieve herd immunity.

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