Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana
Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana has been elected as co-Chairs of the Pandemic preparedness fund Governing Board.
Nsanzimana will serve alongside Dr. Muhammad Chatib Basri, the former finance minister of Indonesia, .
The Pandemic Fund, established after Covid-19, is a collaborative partnership among donor countries, co-investor countries (potential implementing country governments), foundations and civil society organizations (CSOs), and it is hosted by the World Bank with and the World Health Organisation which provides a technical team.
This Fund, as a result of the idea of the G20 countries, finances critical investments to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.
The two key figures will be responsible of organizing meetings aimed at supporting countries to deal with pandemic diseases.
“Primarily, we shall be responsible for conducting meetings aimed at studying, evaluating and aligning projects that have been submitted by countries to deal with pandemic diseases. Once the projects are approved, the Pandemic fund begins the process of finding and collecting the money requested,” Minister Nsanzimana said.
This fund consists of various countries including Rwanda, America, Canada, Italy, Japan, China, Senegal, Singapore, etc. It also includes non-governmental organizations such as Bill & Melinda Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Welcome Trust.
Dr. Chatib Basri, has been in this position since November 2022 where he was elected together with Daniel Ngamije, the former Rwanda’s health minister to be the board’s co-chairs of the Pandemic fund.
The Governing Board, which Dr. Nsanzimana and Dr. Chatib Basri are going to lead, is the supreme governing body of The Pandemic Fund.
It includes 21 voting members, reflects an equal balance of sovereign “contributors” (donors) and sovereign “co-investors” (countries that could receive funding). It also features a voting seat for non-sovereign contributors (philanthropies/foundations) and two voting seats for civil societies organisations.
In addition, there are several non-voting members, including the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Technical Advisory Panel and the G20 Presidency.
The World Bank, in its various capacities, and the World Health Organization participate as observers on the Governing Board alongside other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and agencies selected as Implementing Entities.
