The Japanese government has decided to provide newly cash-strapped households ¥100,000 (USD 774) to low-income households whose income is fallen in recent years. These cash handouts are provided as a part of an emergency relief package. The source of financing will...
On 20 January 2022, the South African Government received a low-interest Development Policy Loan (DPL) of $750 million from the World Bank Group to support its efforts to accelerate the COVID-19 response aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable from the adverse...
Singapore approves S$6 billion from past reserves to fund a “multi-pronged approach”, aiming to continue supporting COVID-19 public health expenditure for financial year 2022. Despite preparing for a new normal transition, Singapore still considers that it is not yet...
Japan is one of the major contributors in funding initiatives for vaccines. Japan will contribute up to $500 million to U.N.-backed efforts to ensure equal access to COVID-19 vaccines especially among lower-income countries. The collaboration is co-hosted by Gavi, a...
Australia's health budget will exceed $132bn for 2022-23, which increased from $62bn for a decade ago due to a rise of healthcare expenditures, the expansion of the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, the Covid-19 response and the addition of $2.3bn over four years for...
The sixth edition of the World Bank Somalia economic update series made several policy recommendations that would set the country up for economic recovery. These include; Investing in health and social safety nets would help improve health outcomes and human capital...
The Western and Central Africa Region and the Heath Nutrition and Population Global Practice of the World Bank are jointly organizing a high level roundtable on Strong and Resilient Health Systems in West and Central Africa during the 2022 WBG-IMF Spring Meetings....
This paper is an attempt to demonstrate the planned reforms in the health budget, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is to be seen how the financial allocation for the health sector impacts the health of the Indian people. Access this paper here
Tabassum Barnagarwala writes about the poor coverage of PMJAY, India's largest government-financed health insurance scheme, the reasons for poor coverage and the health impacts. Read more here
Two years ago on March 13, 2020, Ethiopia recorded its first COVID-19 case. So far, the country has recorded 469,184 cases and 7486 deaths. In the two years since, public health measures, including core capacities to detect, assess, report, and respond to public...
Summary The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) in South Korea held a video conference, attended by the central ministries and 17 major local governments, to discuss the weekly risk evaluation and related response measures, fees paid...
In Brunei, 280,000 antigen rapid test kits have been planned to be distributed to citizens and residents of Brunei Darussalam registered under the National Welfare System, which covers the poor and vulnerable population. For more information, read the full news...
The COVID-19 pandemic came with a lot of uncertainties and has had a significant impact on not only the health sector but also on the economy especially in low and middle income countries. However, it also presented an opportunity for governments to be innovative in...
Discussions to set up a dedicated fund for epidemics took centre stage at a forum in Accra to collate input for the 2022 budget statement and economic policy. Proponents said the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had made such a fund more relevant, hence the need for...
The Bangladesh government has purchased 220,000,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine and for vaccine administration. So far Bangladesh administered around 220,000,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the shortest time in the world. Many more of the population will receive...
