The Pandemic Fund

by: Priya Basu, Executive Head, the Pandemic Fund
 

In just over three years, the Pandemic Fund has grown from a concept into the world’s largest dedicated financing platform for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) in low- and middle-income countries. The Fund’s latest progress report highlights what is possible when countries lead their preparedness agendas and international financing is used strategically to catalyze investment.
 

From Concept to a Global Platform

With a portfolio of $11.5 billion, the Pandemic Fund now supports 67 projects across 128 countries, strengthening systems that detect outbreaks early and contain them quickly.

Demand, however, continues to exceed available resources. Across the first three Calls for Proposals, countries requested more than six times the available funding, underscoring both the urgency of pandemic preparedness and the scale of unmet need.
 

Catalytic Financing That Multiplies Impact

A defining feature of the Fund is its catalytic financing model. Rather than acting alone, it mobilizes domestic and international resources around country and regional priorities. Across three funding rounds, US$1.4 billion in grants allocated unlocked more than US$10 billion in additional financing, including US$4.0 billion in domestic co-investment and US$6.1 billion in international co-financing, largely from Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). This represents a leverage ratio exceeding 1:7. 

Some 45 percent of the co-financing, and 21.5 percent of the co-investment mobilized from the first two rounds had already been disbursed to projects by mid-2025—demonstrating strong early momentum and commitment from both international partners and recipient countries. This is notable given that most first-round projects were only midway through their implementation timelines at that time, and second-round projects were just starting. 
 

Allocating Resources to Meet Demand

Sub-Saharan Africa, where financing needs remain highest, has received nearly half of all grants allocated (44%), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (16%), East Asia and the Pacific (13%), Europe and Central Asia (10%), MENAAP (9%), and South Asia (8%). Low- and lower-middle-income countries account for 79% of single-country grants. 
 

Strengthening the Core Systems of Preparedness

Pandemic preparedness depends on resilient systems—surveillance, laboratories, and a trained workforce. Early results show measurable outputs:

• Surveillance and detection: Over 12,000 health facilities have strengthened surveillance and diagnostics, through better technologies and stronger data systems, and 271 surveillance systems have been established.

• Laboratory networks: More than 350 laboratories have been established or upgraded and 400 biological sample transport systems improved.

• Health workforce: More than 140,000 health workers have been trained, including nearly 90,000 community health workers and thousands of epidemiologists, veterinarians, and laboratory specialists.

Country examples illustrate these gains. Ethiopia has integrated several private facilities into its national health system, strengthened detection and response to cross-border and zoonotic threats, and trained more than 2,700 health professionals in 2024-25. India’s One Health initiative is modernizing laboratories and linking them across 12 states and supporting training on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and veterinary epidemiology to strengthen early detection of emerging infectious diseases. Nepal has expanded AMR testing across hospitals and laboratories while strengthening training across human and animal health sectors. In Yemen, early warning systems now cover 2,700+ sentinel sites, supported by rapid response teams and trained frontline workers.
 

From Capacity Building to Faster Real-Time Detection and Response

The Pandemic Fund’s investments are already enabling faster disease detection and more effective containment. In Togo, strengthened systems enabled authorities to detect, within four days, the re-emergence in early 2025 of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, while also supporting responses to mpox and other public health threats. 

In the wake of the 2024 mpox emergency, Pandemic Fund support helped countries across Africa expand diagnostics and containment capacity. As a result, Rwanda, for example was able to contain mpox and Marburg outbreaks within three months, and reported a Marburg case fatality rate of 22.7%, compared to a historical average of over 85%. 

Across supported countries, progress under the 7-1-7 approach—detecting outbreaks within 7 days, reporting within 1 day, and initiating response within 7 days—has accelerated significantly. The number of outbreaks managed according to this standard increased sixfold, while the share of countries meeting the target rose from 14% to 52%. In Mongolia, strengthened surveillance and laboratory systems enabled authorities to detect an anthrax outbreak in two days and begin response within four days, surpassing the 7-1-7 target.

Beyond immediate results, Pandemic Fund support is building durable systems, aligned with national and regional health security plans. Projects are strengthening two foundational enablers: National Public Health Institutes, or equivalent public agencies, and regional organizations—which are essential for sustaining capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats.
 

Advancing One Health and Cross-Border Collaboration

Because many outbreaks emerge at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental systems, the Fund promotes a One Health approach through its investments. Among projects in the first two funding rounds, 44 of 47 report stronger inter-ministerial collaboration.

Regional coordination is also expanding. In the Caribbean, support to the Caribbean Public Health Agency is strengthening regional surveillance, including the region’s first digital One Health platform and mass-gathering surveillance systems deployed during the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup. A regional initiative across Central Asia is similarly strengthening cross-border preparedness.
 

Partnerships That Multiply Impact

The Fund’s progress reflects strong partnerships among governments, MDBs, UN agencies, civil society, philanthropies, and the private sector.

Private companies are contributing technology and expertise—from diagnostics and laboratory equipment to innovations such as drone-based technology for surveillance and last-mile logistics. As examples, in Bhutan, Moderna has contributed its technical expertise and equipment to strengthen laboratory capacity. In the Caribbean, countries have been equipped with Truelab micro-PCR analyzers—chip-based devices that enable point-of-care, real-time detection of infectious diseases in low-resource settings. 

Civil society organizations play a critical role in extending services to underserved communities and strengthening community engagement and surveillance, as well as in promoting local ownership, transparency, and accountability. In Cambodia, Agronomes et Vétérinaires Sans Frontières is expanding last-mile capacity by training village-level animal health workers across 20 provinces, strengthening early detection of zoonotic diseases. In Paraguay, the project has partnered with the Red Cross to implement community-based surveillance, particularly in regions with large Indigenous and vulnerable populations.

The Pandemic Fund’s External Advisory Council, with more than 20 organizations, strengthens knowledge sharing, innovation, and coordination across sectors.

Together, these partnerships are multiplying the Fund’s impact—combining innovation, local knowledge, and global expertise to build stronger, more resilient health systems.
 

Looking Ahead

The Pandemic Fund’s early years show the power of country-led, collaborative, and catalytic financing to strengthen global health security. We are committed to learning and adapting the model, innovating, and scaling what works—embedding investments within national institutions, expanding regional coordination, and supporting countries with the highest risk and gaps.

Momentum continues with a fourth Call for Proposals set to launch on April 1, 2026, including a pilot for the world’s highest-risk, highest-need countries. By investing in resilient systems today, the Pandemic Fund is helping ensure that the next outbreak is detected early, contained quickly, and prevented from becoming the next pandemic.