Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd. has put its promotional muscle behind a new report about a proposed Pandemic Emergency Facility.
Members of the Group of Eight (G8), an organization for the world's eight richest countries, agreed last year to have the World Bank set up the facility. The facility, or fund, is supposed to use cash from the G8 countries to set up catastrophe bond and reinsurance programs. When a poor country suffers a serious outbreak, a "cash window" at the fund is supposed to give the country quick access to cash for outbreak response.
The fund is supposed to go into operation later this year.
Students at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies wrote a detailed report on the pandemic fund with advice and financial support from Swiss Re. Swiss Re, a Zurich-based company with large operations in the United States, has been working to get the report media attention.
Just as the G8 consortium brings the eight biggest, richest countries in the world together, the Group of 20 (G20) consortium serves as a forum for the world's 20 wealthiest economies.
Some of the G20 countries, including Brazil and South Korea, have fought serious disease outbreaks in recent years, and those countries have an obvious reason to want to expand public and private pandemic insurance programs, the students write.
