IDSA Joins Organizations in Urging Strengthened International Response to Pandemic

In a statement to the World Health Organization executive board Monday, the Infectious Diseases Society of America joined the global health community in calling on the international agency to ensure strong, collaborative and comprehensive efforts worldwide to control the spread of COVID-19 and its impacts.

With other member organizations of the Washington, D.C.-based Global Health Council, we urge WHO member states to supply adequate funding for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator to speed development of safe and effective diagnostics, therapeutics and a vaccine. While this initiative will be pivotal to the equitable global distribution of an approved vaccine, only $2 billion of the $16 billion needed for the vaccine pillar of the initiative has been pledged, and overall funding falls $35 billion short of the $38 billion that will be needed across the initiative.

The statement also urges the board to ensure the participation of civil society in the initiative and make substantial investments in health care delivery systems at all levels.