The Pandemic Fund

Background

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) was awarded US$17.59 million from the Pandemic Fund to fortify the country’s pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) capabilities. The grant mobilized an additional US$14.6 million in co-financing from multilateral, philanthropic, research, and civil society partners, as well as US$91.6 million in co-investment from the government’s own budget. The project also brought together a wide range of partners such as the Lao One Health University Network and Fondation Mérieux, among others. 

Lao PDR is located strategically along the major Mekong trade corridors that link China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. These corridors encourage economic activity, but they also increase the risk of cross-border disease spread. Migration and frequent interactions among humans, animals, and the environment, particularly in Lao PDR’s agricultural and forest-edge communities, complicate the country’s public health landscape further. Mounting an effective response to threats, meanwhile, is challenging. The country’s infrastructure is limited, impeding service delivery in rural and border areas, and more than 50 different languages are spoken in the country, ratcheting up the difficulty of activities such as risk communication.  

Lao PDR’s project emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, in keeping with the ethos of the Pandemic Fund. The project is co-led by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. These ministries will be supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UNICEF as implementing entities. 
 

Project objectives

With the support of project partners and the Pandemic Fund, Lao PDR aims to transform its existing PPR systems into a sustainable, nationally owned structure for pandemic resilience. 
 

Implementation arrangements and key components

Lao PDR's project aligns precisely with the Pandemic Fund’s three priorities -- surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development – as well as two supporting priorities: risk prevention and enabling policies. More detail on all project components follows. 

1. Strengthening integrated early warning and surveillance systems. This component of the project focuses on operationalizing a national One Health surveillance strategy, including implementing standard operating procedures for data collection, enabling real-time data sharing, and enhancing joint risk assessments and decision-making across the human, animal, wildlife, and environmental health sectors. Activities also include enhancing the country’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centers and ensuring interoperability among Lao PDR’s points of entry, border provinces, and high-risk communities.  

2. Improving laboratory capacity. Activities in this area focus on increasing the reliability of human, animal, and environmental health laboratories by upgrading referral systems, establishing a harmonized diagnostic network at subnational levels, and strengthening biosafety and quality management. They also include securing International Organization for Standardization accreditation for two national laboratories, followed by nine provincial laboratories.  

3. Building a sustainable One Health workforce. Activities in this area include providing competency-based and field training programs for human, veterinary, and environmental health professionals, as well as involving village health and veterinary volunteers in surveillance and risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) activities. At the community level, the intention is to deploy approximately 1,000 human, animal, and wildlife health workers in high-risk provinces. 

4. Enhancing risk prevention and management. This part of the project focuses on implementing infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, and biosecurity measures in high-risk areas, as well as conducting simulation exercises across all levels of the health system. These activities will be supported by infrastructure upgrades and targeted risk communication.  

5. Fostering an enabling environment. This work includes providing operational support to the National One Health Coordination Mechanism, enhancing data governance, and investing in national public health institutions. They also include updating the country’s legal frameworks to implement International Health Regulations (IHR) -- notably, establishing a National IHR Authority -- and operationalizing multisectoral coordination committees. 

The FAO will oversee all animal health activities, as well as One Health coordination. UNICEF will support village health volunteers, RCCE, and a range of other project activities.  
 

Expected outcomes

Successful implementation of Lao PDR’s Pandemic Fund project will mean that country is able to:  

• Expand surveillance in high-risk areas and speed up outbreak identification and response 

• Secure accreditation for selected laboratories and run an integrated specimen referral system 

• Train a highly qualified workforce and strengthen surge capacity across the health sectors 

• Reduce transmission risk, strengthen infection control, and foster health system sustainability, and  

• Develop a resilient PPR system with improved regional cooperation. 

Note: This project description is based on the project proposal and information available as of February 2026.