The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group (WBG), and the World Health Organization (WHO) have announced a collaborative effort to enhance pandemic preparedness. This initiative aims to provide countries with increased support in preventing, detecting, and responding to public health threats through various means including the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST), WBG’s financial and technical assistance, and WHO’s expertise.
This cooperation will operate within each organization’s mandates and policies. The IMF, WBG, and WHO plan to use their collective expertise to improve pandemic readiness among member countries by leveraging synergies from each institution's in-country operations. The collaboration is expected to strengthen policy reforms supported by the IMF's Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), as well as investments backed by the WBG, alongside WHO's technical support.
Under this framework, WHO and WBG will lead on health-related development policies while collaborating with other multilateral development banks for specific project investments related to pandemic preparedness. RST financing will not be designated for specific projects but will inform policy reform measures based on data from WHO, WBG, and country authorities.
Kristalina Georgieva of the IMF stated: “The stepped-up collaboration with the World Bank Group and the World Health Organization will help our institutions complement and leverage each other’s expertise to help our members strengthen pandemic preparedness.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of WHO remarked: “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for new sources of financing...WHO is proud to be working with the IMF and the World Bank.”
Ajay Banga of WBG emphasized: “We must aggressively be planning...so that when the battle comes – we will have the health workforce that can be rapidly deployed.”