Remarks at the Global Health Systems Financing and Pandemic Preparedness Event
Format
As Prepared for Delivery
Many thanks Madame Ambassador for the opportunity to address excellencies and esteemed colleagues present here today on this important topic. I very much welcome the restated commitment to break the cycle of panic and neglect.
We have engaged over the past decades in the response and recovery to many shocks and disasters and have learned a lot through these experiences and through the direct engagement with governments across the world.
For instance, notable innovations have been introduced in the International Development Association (IDA) in recent years to incentivize countries to access IDA for crisis preparedness, including pandemic preparedness, and embed these efforts into core country operations.
Two Proposals for Ambitious 2021 Reforms
Coping with Compound Shocks
Developing countries and small economies are facing the prospect of more frequent and devastating compound shocks, defined as multiple disruptive events including natural disasters, economic and financial crises, and pandemics striking simultaneously or in rapid sequence. In 2020, Bangladesh, Fiji, Honduras, India, the Philippines, Mexico, Nicaragua, and 11 countries in the Sahel faced combinations of the COVID-19 pandemic; economic shocks associated with the pandemic and measures to contain it; and extreme weather events, including drought, floods, and/or hurricanes, that were exacerbated by climate change.
Compound shocks are more devastating than isolated shocks, for several reasons. First, they stretch health care delivery, social safety nets, and disaster response systems too thin, making effective relief and response difficult or impossible. Second, they can leave reserve funds and public budgets dangerousl