The Pandemic Fund

Background

Samoa was awarded US$4.8 million from the Pandemic Fund to bolster the country’s prevention, preparedness, and response (PPR) capabilities through the One Health approach. The grant leveraged an additional US$320,000 in co-investment and US$5.5 million in co-financing. The three Implementing Entities for the project are the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Samoa’s public health landscape is greatly influenced by climate change and environmental factors. The country’s people are bearing witness to higher temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and ever more extreme weather events, all of which bring public health risks. Vector-borne zoonotic diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika are endemic. Many water- and food-borne zoonotic diseases, as well as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), are also persistent concerns. Samoa's ability to respond to public health threats is compromised by the country’s limited surveillance and laboratory capabilities, as well as an overstretched health workforce. 

The Pandemic Fund emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, which is demonstrated by Samoa’s project. The Ministry of Health leads the project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development, along with the project’s three IEs and other financers. Additional partners include Beyond Essential Systems and the Red Cross, as well as various District Councils and civil society organizations. 
 

Project objectives

With the Pandemic Fund grant, Samoa’s Ministry of Health seeks to ward off public health threats with epidemic and pandemic potential through robust PPR. 
 

Implementation arrangements and key components

Samoa’s project aligns neatly with the Pandemic Fund’s priorities: surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development. The country is committed to upholding health equity and the needs of girls, women, rural communities, and other marginalized groups across the project, from data collection and analysis to planning, recruitment, and beyond.  

1. Surveillance. Activities in this area include establishing an effective One Health partnership framework and reviewing the partnership mid-project, identifying opportunities to strengthen surveillance within and among health sectors, holding a workshop to bridge International Health Regulations and Performance of Veterinary Services guidance, and expanding the Health Climate Early Warning System (H-CLEWS). This area also focuses on developing a multisectoral food chain surveillance system and national food safety emergency response plan, conducting simulation exercises for food-borne events, and advancing risk communications and community engagement on food safety. Additional activities include implementing the multisectoral National Action Plan on AMR, developing a biosecurity risk assessment and priority action plan for zoonotic diseases, and addressing challenges related to digital health hardware.
2. Laboratory systems. This component of the project focuses on establishing national human and animal health laboratories, supplying them with the necessary equipment and supplies, and introducing external quality assurance and management systems.
3. Workforce development. Activities in this area include conducting a multisectoral gap analysis to assess the country’s surge capacity, developing a multisectoral surge plan, and running simulation exercises to test that plan. This area also includes training workers on subnational point-of-care testing and emerging disease testing, as well as integrating development opportunities for human and animal health surveillance and diagnostics. Additionally, this area focuses on recruiting a public veterinarian, introducing a veterinary scholarship, training para-veterinarians, and skilling stakeholders across the health sectors in the new food safety guidance.

The FAO contributes its expertise across animal health and food safety. The World Bank acts as a convener and focuses on the H-CLEWS and human health laboratories. The WHO focuses on One Health, AMR, and the human health workforce. 
 

Expected outcomes

With the support of the Pandemic Fund and Samoa’s other partners, the country expects to:

1. Strengthen surveillance systems to detect and monitor diseases with epidemic potential
2. Increase the capacity of laboratories to rapidly characterize and confirm diseases with epidemic potential; and
3. Enable the multisectoral health workforce to respond effectively to disease outbreaks.