$17 mn. WHO grant for SL for pandemic preparedness
The World Health Organization (WHO) has awarded Sri Lanka a $17 million grant for its proposal, “One Vision, One Shield,” aimed at strengthening pandemic preparedness and response.
This proposal was developed with the support of five key implementing agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (WB), the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF, in collaboration with One Health stakeholders in Sri Lanka.
The grant will be distributed over a three-year period starting in January 2025.
It aims to implement the recommendations from Sri Lanka’s most recent Joint External Evaluation and the subsequent National Action Plan for Health Security. The focus areas include enhancing surveillance, laboratory capacities, and the health workforce.
In addition to this grant, Sri Lanka is also a beneficiary of a multi-country proposal submitted for the WHO South-East Asia region.
The second round of the Pandemic Fund grant allocations, announced on October 18, 2024, aims to bolster pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities in 40 countries across six geographical regions.
To date, the two rounds of funding total $885 million, mobilizing an additional $6 billion in support of 75 countries, half of which are low- and middle-income countries.