On 4 May 2020, the Commission registered 7.4 billion Euros in donations worldwide, including a 1.4 billion Euros pledge from the European Commission. This is very close to the initial target of 7.billion Euros and is a solid basis for the start of the worldwide pledging marathon which started 6 May 2020. The aim of this donation collection is to accelerate and develop the collaborative and universal deployment of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines against coronavirus.
This event was organised by the EU, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom. The call came from the World Health Organisation (WHO) along with a group of health actors for a global collaboration on new coronavirus health technologies. The Coronavirus Global Response is structured of three partnerships for testing, treating and preventing underpinned by health systems strengthening.
The Coronavirus Global Response will however need to mobilise more resources as 7.5 billion is merely enough to start the research on the virus – donors are thus invited and encouraged to continue donating.
A framework, called ACT-accelerator, to align global efforts has also been designed. It will act as a coordination structure to analyse and oversee progress that has been made in the treatment of COVID-19.
The Commission emphasises that none of the payments will be redirected to them; they will go directly to the Coronavirus Global response fund. The aim of this fundraising is to come up with new vaccines as quickly as possible and was launched in the hope it will be available to everyone regardless of countries.
NGOs will also be involved in the project with the aim of involving civil society and citizens in the bigger project.
Photo by Wali’s Studio on Unsplash
