The Pandemic Fund

Background

Sri Lanka was awarded US$18.4 million from the Pandemic Fund to reduce pandemic and other public health risks and boost the country’s resilience. The grant mobilized an additional US$7.7 million in co-investment and US$197 million in co-financing. The four Implementing Entities (IEs) are the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO).  

Sri Lanka is recovering from severe economic turbulence, including debt distress, inflation, and currency depreciation. While the strength of the economy has rebounded, the island nation remains vulnerable to public health risks. Sri Lanka is home to 22 million people, many of whom work with livestock, poultry, and waterfowl. Meanwhile, the country’s wild animals are being displaced by deforestation and urbanization, meaning that contact between people and animals of all types is on the rise, bringing with it the possibility of zoonotic disease spread. Expanding trade and tourism aggravate the risk of cross-border disease spread, and Sri Lanka’s range of ecosystems, including tropical forests, wetlands, and coral reefs, are ideal hosts to wildlife and insect vectors, as well as diseases like dengue and leptospirosis. 

The Pandemic Fund emphasizes multisectoral collaboration, which is demonstrated by Sri Lanka’s project. The Ministry of Health leads, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation, and the project’s IEs and financers. The project also incorporates a range of civil society organizations, including the Community Education Center, the Dhabindhu Collective, Jathika App Taxi Wurthiya Riyadurange Ekamuthawa, Revolutionary Existence for Human Development, Samastha Lanka Three Roda Riyadurange Vurthiya Samithia, the SARDOVAYA Movement, Savisthri – National Women’s Movement, and the Standup Movement. 
 

Project objectives

With the Pandemic Fund grant, the Government of Sri Lanka aims to protect the recovering country and its people from public health emergencies, with a focus on the needs of vulnerable populations. 
 

Implementation arrangements and key components

Sri Lanka’s project aligns with the Pandemic Fund’s three priorities: surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development. Additional detail about each area follows. 

1. Surveillance. Activities in this area include establishing a web-based system to automate notifications of communicable diseases, developing antimicrobial resistance surveillance plans across livestock, poultry, animal feeds, and wastewater, and introducing a Geographic Information System-based application that links surveillance and diagnostic data for the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health.
2. Laboratory systems. This work focuses on strengthening laboratory quality management across all health sectors, improving sample transport in adherence with International Air Transport Association standards, and upgrading air quality systems at the Medical Research Institute (the country’s national reference laboratory) to meet the highest biosafety standards.
3. Workforce development. Activities in this area include training first responders at the community level, establishing a front-line training program for wildlife, environment, and ecosystem professionals, and implementing a Field Epidemiology Training Program for in-service veterinarians using the Veterinary Epidemiological Mapping Tool. 

The ADB oversees a range of activities spanning surveillance, early warning, and laboratory systems, with a focus on physical infrastructure. FAO supports the Ministry of Agriculture and helps integrate the various health sectors. UNICEF leads on community engagement, ensuring that vulnerable populations are included in the project. The World Bank focuses on capacity-building at laboratories. The WHO provides technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and, like the ADB, oversees a range of activities spanning surveillance, early warning, and laboratory systems. 
 

Expected outcomes

With the Pandemic Fund grant and the collaboration of its partners, Sri Lanka intends to:

• Upgrade the country’s surveillance system to detect and respond to public health threats more effectively
• Improve laboratory infrastructure and capacity, and
• Build and train a proficient health workforce, emphasizing the One Health approach.