COVID-19: G20 launches international initiative to accelerate access to health tools

Following the footsteps of WHO, the G20 nations on April 26 launched a combined international initiative to accelerate the access of health tools needed to battle coronavirus. The COVID-19 infection which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan has now spiralled out to infect over 2,921,571 people across the world. Mohammed al-Jadaan, the current chairman of the organisation and the finance minister of Saudi Arabia reportedly said that the group was still working to bridge approximately $8 billion "funding gap" to battle the pandemic.

For the purpose, the group of 20 rich nations launched “Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator” initiative, international media reported. Elaborating further, al-Jadaan, released a statement saying," The G20 will continue reinforcing global cooperation on all fronts, and most importantly, on closing the immediate health financing gap.  He added that the international community was still facing “extraordinary uncertainty" about the depth and duration of this health crisis.

WHO launches combined initiative 

This comes two days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a global and time-limited collaboration to accelerate the development, production and equitable access to new COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. The initial group of health care actors, private sector partners and other stakeholders have come together to launch the ‘Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator’.

Speaking at the live-streamed launch event, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the unprecedented global crisis due to the coronavirus has met with an unprecedented global response. The WHO chief said that the new Act Accelerator brings together the combined power of several organizations to work with speed and scale to ensure all people have access to all the tools to defeat COVID-19.

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According to the ACT Accelerator, the stakeholders have committed to an “unprecedented level of partnership” with proactively engaging, aligning and coordinating efforts, building on existing collaborations, collectively devising solutions, and grounding partnership in transparency, and science. They have recognised the significant amount of critical work, investment and initiatives already ongoing around the world to expedite the development and deployment of innovative COVID-19 related products and interventions. 

Read:  WHO Launches Global Collaboration To Ensure Equitable Access To COVID-19 Vaccine

Read: G20 Health Ministers Acknowledge Systematic Weakness In Health Systems To Fight Pandemic

(Image Credits: AP)