Another 16 billion dollars are needed to support low-income countries tackle the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.
This is the size of the gap in the budget for supplying countries with vaccines, tests and medicines through a programme launched by the United Nations, and the sum would be used to create a pool of 600 million vaccine doses, buy 700 million tests and treat 120 million patients, the WHO said.
"Science gave us the tools to fight COVID-19; if they are shared globally in solidarity, we can end COVID-19 as a global health emergency this year," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
According to UN calculations, 92 per cent of the required total contribution should come from the European Union and G20 - the group of the world's biggest industrialized and emerging economies.
Gordon Brown, the WHO ambassador for global health financing, said 16 billion dollars was a manageable amount given the global economic impact of the pandemic.
Brown criticized the enduring enormous inequality in the global distribution of vaccines and availability of tests and medicines.
He pointed to poor vaccination rates in low-income countries while millions of unused doses are expected to go to waste in rich countries.
The WHO has set a goal for 70 per cent of the world's population to be vaccinated by mid-year.
Germany is one of few countries who have committed to paying their share to the programme this year, Brown said.
Germany, Norway, Sweden, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Canada fulfilled their commitment in 2020-21.
