Jakarta (ANTARA) – All parties must ensure that global aid is distributed properly to help communities in need amid the pandemic, Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said.
“We need to make sure that we continue to disburse global manufacturing (logistics) and vaccine assistance, especially to southern countries, thus everyone is safe (from being exposed to COVID-19),” he added at the 2022 Philanthropy Asia Summit on Friday.
In addition, the G20 countries, under Indonesia’s 2022 Presidency, have agreed to establish a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) as one of the concrete steps to bolster the global health infrastructure, he noted.
The global funding program was initiated at the 1st 2022 G20 Health and Finance Ministerial Meeting, which was held in Yogyakarta on June 20 and 21, 2022.
So far, fundraising commitments for the FIF, which is intended to help prevent future pandemics, have reached US$1.4 billion.
The minister said he expects the fundraising commitments to continue to increase so that the world becomes better prepared and resilient in facing any health crisis.
“As the chair of the 2022 G20 Presidency, Indonesia is pushing for the reformation of the global health architecture,” Sadikin said.
Still, protocols for utilizing the funding need to be regulated to expedite the implementation of medical services to prevent future pandemics.
Furthermore, the minister noted the importance of involving the private sector to ensure global community access to emergency medical services, including diagnosis, treatment, and vaccination, for dealing with future pandemics.
Philanthropic funding has contributed to accelerating the implementation of healthcare services, he added.
For instance, when medical oxygen supply in Indonesia was inadequate due to a high number of cases of COVID-19 caused by the quick transmission of the Delta variant, medical oxygen assistance was obtained, among others, through philanthropy, Sadikin said.
Source: ANTARA News