The Pandemic Fund

Dr Chikwe Andreas IHEKWEAZU, MBBS, DCH&TM, MPH, EPIET, FFPH

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu is Assistant Director-General at the Health Emergencies Programme of the World Health Organization.

Dr Joy St John’s 30 year career in Public Health has allowed her to give service at the national, regional and global levels.

She rose through the ranks of Public Health in Barbados to become the first Barbadian to be Chief Medical Officer of her country, from 2005 to 2017.

She has served as the Director and most recently in June 2024, completed 5 years as the first female Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

The Pandemic Fund’s Governing Board has approved grants under its first round of funding allocations, aimed to boost the resilience to future pandemics in 37 countries across six regions. The selected 19 projects will receive funding to strengthen disease surveillance and early warning, laboratory systems, and health workforce.
 

Anita leads all external communications efforts (including web and social media), with an objective to position the Pandemic Fund, increase its visibility, and disseminate results. This includes content creation, media and social media engagement, branding, and reputational risk management.

Alejandra works closely with the Pandemic Fund Governing Board Members and Technical Advisory Panel Experts, by providing day-to-day operational support. In addition, she oversees the Secretariat’s budget and office management.

Selomé brings extensive experience in administration and office management from her previous roles at the Front Office of the Global Partnership for Education of the World Bank, the United Nations, and the African Union Commission.

Selomé is a native of Ethiopia, has excellent command of both English and French, and holds an associate degree from Addis Ababa University School of Commerce and Certificates from Uhuru Institute of Management Training in Cape Town and Richland College in Texas.

Katherine works on developing and running Calls for Proposals, supporting program and portfolio management, and overseeing the process to accredit Implementing Entities of the Pandemic Fund. 

Priya Basu was appointed as the inaugural Executive Head of the Pandemic Fund at the World Bank in September 2022. During the pandemic she led the Multilateral Leaders Task Force on COVID-19 to address key bottlenecks in vaccine access and delivery, as well as the Bank’s engagement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response with the G20 and G7 - coordinating across finance and health.

Background

The Pandemic Fund was established as a dedicated, multilateral funding mechanism to support critical investments to strengthen Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPR) capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a focus on IDA and IBRD countries.  The Pandemic Fund was formally established as a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF

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