Norway invests NOK 240 million in global pandemic preparedness

‘The international community needs to invest now to ensure a safer future for all of us. The lessons learned from the Covid-19-pandemic, Mpox and Ebola are that we need to act quickly and coordinated. Norway helped establish the Pandemic Fund in 2022, and we are now increasing our support to the fund by NOK 240 million. When acting quickly we save lives and reduce the economic and social consequences of outbreaks of diseases that pandemics and outbreaks bring,’ said Minister of Development Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim.

The Pandemic Fund focuses on strengthening low- and middle-income countries’ health systems and capacity to detect, prevent and halt new outbreaks early.

The Norwegian contribution was announced today by State Secretary Usman Mushtaq at the G20 Health Ministerial meeting in Brazil.

‘Since the Covid19-pandemic, we have improved the global pandemic readiness and response, but we rely on predictability in international funding to ensure we are better equipped to prevent and manage future crises,’ said Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Health, and Care Services.

Earlier this month over 50 countries received support from the Pandemic Fund, including five countries now affected by Mpox. More than half of the recipients are countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The overwhelming interest from countries in the first two announcements from the Pandemic Fund shows that there is huge need for such a finance mechanism. So far, the fund has allocated US$ 885 million, which has also triggered an additional US$ 6 billion in co-funding from countries, development banks and multilateral actors.

Norway’s global commitment to increased pandemic and health preparedness, addresses efforts to strengthen international coordination, financing and regulation. This builds on experiences from the role Norway and South Africa played as co-chairs of the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) to ensure more equitable access to Covid-19-tester, treatment, and vaccines. Norway also participates in ongoing negotiations on a pandemic agreement in the World Health Organization (WHO).It is key that the pandemic agreement will strengthen efforts to prevent pandemics and ensure increased equity in access to vaccines and other medical countermeasures in health crises.