Global Leaders, made up past and current leaders, have called on the G20 to, as matter of urgency, approve an $8 billion emergency fund to fill the gaps in the COVID-19 response and also prepared towards the prevention of a reoccurrence of the pandemic in future.
“All health systems – even the most sophisticated and best funded – are buckling under the pressures of the virus. Yet if we do nothing as the disease spreads in poorer African, Asian and Latin American cities which have little testing equipment, hardly any ventilators, and few medical supplies; and where social distancing and even washing hands are difficult to achieve, Covid-19 will persist there – and re-emerge to hit the rest of the world with further rounds that will prolong the crisis”, they said.
Consequently, in a press statement, the group, which is made up of 165 world leaders, including 92 current and former Presidents and Prime Ministers, as well as economic and health leaders in the developed and developing world, is asking the G20 to create a G20 executive task force and an immediate global pledging conference to approve and co-ordinate the fund.
“World leaders must immediately agree to commit $8 billion – as set out by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board – to fill the most urgent gaps in the COVID-19 response”.
Out of the amount, the group, which has Ghana’s former President, HE John Kufuor as a member, proposes that $1billion dollars should be given to the World Health Organisation to aid its works, $3 billion for vaccines and $2.25 billion for therapeutics.
Other proposals
The Global Leaders have also made some other proposals which they believe will help win the war against the lethal virus.
They suggest an additional $8 billion to hasten the global search for vaccines, cure and treatment of the coronavirus pandemic.
Apart from this, they have, again, propose a $35 billion to support for health systems relative to the distribution of ventilators, test kits and protective equipment for front line health workers.
Additionally, they have also proposed a $150 billion support package for developing countries to “fight medical and economic crisis, prevent a second wave of the disease flowing back into countries as they come out of the first wave”.
“This means waiving debt interest payments for the poorest countries, including $44billion due this year from Africa. A $500-$600billion issue of additional resources by the IMF in the form of special drawing rights is proposed”, another portion of the statement read.
The Global Leaders are also calling for the speed up the processes for the search for vaccine, cure and treatments for the covid-19 viral disease in order to nib it in the bud and revive the world economy, which has been disrupted.
Revival of global economy
On mitigating the economic impact of the covid-19 on the world, the group urges the co-ordination of fiscal stimuli to avoid a recession becoming a depression, adding that a global economic problem requires a global economic response.
”Our aim should be to prevent a liquidity crisis turning into a solvency crisis, and a global recession becoming a global depression. To ensure this, better coordinated fiscal, monetary, central bank, and anti-protectionist initiatives are needed.
“The ambitious fiscal stimuli of some countries will be all-the-more effective if more strongly complemented by all countries in a position to do so. The long-term solution is a radical rethink of global public health and a refashioning – together with proper resourcing – of the entwined global health and financial architecture. The UN, the G20 and interested partners should work together to co-ordinate further action”, the statement further said.
Raead more from the Global Leaders in the document attached below.
