Eminent personalities urge G20 countries to approve $8 billion in emergency funding to fight Covid-19

In an open letter, these leader demanded that the United Nations, the G20 and interested partners “should work together to co-ordinate further action”.

Many former global leaders and other eminent personalities urged the world’s 20 major industrialised nations to approve $8 billion in emergency funding to speed the search for a vaccine, cure and treatment for coronavirus disease Covid-19 which has affected millions across the world.

A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks past a temporary closure sign displayed at Ginza Six mixed-use complex in Ginza shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, on April 8, 2020. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned Japan could be facing as many as 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in a month if no action is taken as he declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and its surrounding regions. (Bloomberg Photo)

These leaders also urged the G20 nations to utilise the fund to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

In an open letter, 92 former Presidents and Prime Ministers, along with current economic and health leaders in the developed and developing world sought $35 billion to support health systems, from ventilators to test kits and

protective equipment for health workers.

“$35 billion will be required, as highlighted by WHO, to support countries with weaker health systems and especially vulnerable populations, including the provision of vital medical supplies, surge support to the national health workforce (70% of whom in many countries are underpaid women) and strengthening national resilience and preparedness,” the leaders said in the letter.

“We propose convening a global pledging conference - its purpose supported by a G20 Executive Task Force - to commit resources to meeting these emergency global health needs,” the letter further said.

They also demanded that the United Nations, the G20 and interested partners “should work together to co-ordinate further action”.

The 165 signatories included former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 92 former presidents and prime ministers, the current prime ministers of Ethiopia and Bangladesh, Sierra Leone’s president, philanthropist George Soros, former Irish president Mary Robinson, who chairs The Elders, and Graca Machel, the group’s deputy chair.

Others include former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and John Major, former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, International Economic Association President Kaushik Basu, who was a World Bank chief economist, and Georgetown University Associate Professor Deus Bazira, co-director of the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact.