The Pandemic Fund

Background

Indonesia was awarded US$25 million from the Pandemic Fund to strengthen its prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) capabilities and enhance its resilience to pandemics. The grant mobilized an additional US$21.6 million in co-financing and US$227.5 million in co-investment.

Indonesia achieved impressive economic growth over the last two decades, accompanied by improvements in public health. Nonetheless, the country remains at high risk of pandemics and their social and economic fallout, as demonstrated by COVID-19—the country registered nearly 6.8 million confirmed cases of the virus and suffered the worst recession since the Asian financial crisis. Indonesia’s geography, spanning more than 17,500 islands, the density of the country’s human and animal populations, and the effects of climate change exacerbate the risk of disease spread, especially in rural and remote communities. The risk extends beyond Indonesia’s borders, too, given the perennial flow of people and animals throughout the South Asian region. 

The project emphasizes multicultural coordination, in the spirit of the Pandemic Fund. It is a collaboration among the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs, the National Research and Innovation Agency. 

This project has three Implementing Entities: FAO, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Additional partners include the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DFAT, the e-Asia Joint Research Program, GAVI, the Gates Foundation, the Global Fund, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Sanger Institute. 
 

Project objectives

Indonesia issued a Ministerial Decree on the Prevention and Control of Zoonoses and Emerging Infectious Diseases in 2022. With the Pandemic Fund grant, the country seeks to build on this momentum, aligned with the One Health approach. 
 

Implementation arrangements and key components

Indonesia’s project encompasses the Pandemic Fund’s priorities – surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development – as well as the Fund’s underlying themes, including gender, equity, and community engagement. Additional detail on the project’s components follows. 

1. Strengthening surveillance. This body of work focuses on establishing a One Health Surveillance Network supported by a joint ministerial decree, multisectoral coordination meetings, One Health surveillance guidelines, as well as enhanced surveillance capacity and data interoperability.
2. Upgrading laboratories. Activities in this area focus on establishing a One Health Laboratory Network including both human and animal health laboratories, investing in laboratory capacity and referral networks, building facilities to store biological samples, creating diagnostic tests, developing guidelines for laboratory procedures, and convening regular meetings among ministries. Activities also include developing national regulations for sensitive biological agents, training human and animal health staff on biosafety and biosecurity management, and conducting quality assessments with external experts.
3. Improving emergency management. This component of the project involves disseminating updated One Health risk communication strategies, particularly in high-risk areas, strengthening the capabilities and operations of the emergency response center under the Incident Management System, and updating the Contingency Plan for Health Emergency Management, accompanied by a multisectoral simulation exercise.
4. Cross-cutting activities. These activities include enhancing the country’s implementation of international Health Regulations (IHR) and PPR, improving gender equality across the IHR functions, and deepening community engagement on health equity.

As a longstanding partner of Indonesia, the World Bank helped develop the project plan and serves as a financial intermediary, ensuring adherence to procurement, fiduciary, environmental, and social safeguards. FAO provides technical assistance, implementation support, and measurement and evaluation expertise with a focus on the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs. The WHO provides those same services, with a focus on the Ministry of Health and the National Research and Innovation Agency. 
 

Expected outcomes

With the Pandemic Fund grant and the collaboration of its partners, Indonesia aims to:

1. Ensure that the country’s surveillance systems are successfully monitoring diseases with epidemic potential
2. Enable laboratories to rapidly characterize and confirm diseases with epidemic potential
3. Prepare emergency management systems and personnel to respond to outbreaks effectively, and
4. Improve strategic planning, equity, and community engagement.