WHO says it urgently needs $ 7.7 billion to help poorest countries survive delta Covid variant

The World Health Organization is asking for $ 7.7 billion which officials say is urgently needed to help low-income countries survive the delta Covid variant by providing vaccines, oxygen and medical care.

The funding will go to WHO’s Access to Covid-19 Tools, or ACT, Accelerator program, which provides essential medical supplies across the world to fight the coronavirus, said Dr Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the director general of WHO, in a question-and-answer session with WHO officials broadcast live Tuesday on its social media accounts.

Aylward said the funds are needed to partially cover a $ 16.8 billion deficit that is hampering WHO’s ability to fight the pandemic in developing countries that have little or no access to vaccines.

“Besides the moral issue – people shouldn’t die if the technology is available elsewhere, you know, the technology should help humanity as a whole – there is also the issue that we can’t fix this pandemic country by country. both, ”said Dr Mariangela Simao, WHO Deputy Director-General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals.

“This is the reality,” she continued. “We have to help countries move more together. Otherwise, we are going to be living with this virus much longer than necessary.”

WHO officials have set a goal of vaccinating at least 10% of the world’s population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year and 70% by the middle of this year. ‘next year. Some nations around the world have yet to begin vaccination campaigns, while wealthier countries like the United States and Israel have already fully vaccinated more than half of their populations.

Aylward said people in poorer countries who have a fever or other symptoms do not have the testing supplies to know if it is Covid or other illnesses, such as malaria. , tuberculosis, pneumonia or HIV. In addition to providing vaccine doses, Aylward said, the funding will also cover Covid testing, oxygen treatments and masks.

Rich countries have spent billions of dollars to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, he said. “Your economy is telling you you need to vaccinate the world, and of course we haven’t been listening,” he said.

The WHO had previously said it urgently needed $ 7.7 billion to operate the ACT accelerator, then asking for an additional $ 3.8 billion to purchase 760 million doses of the Covid vaccine to be delivered to the next year, Reuters reported.

“This is the defining moment of our time,” said Aylward. “At some point we’ll look back and that will be the question: In these defining moments, how did you act?