Washington — The World Bank raised $500m to finance rapid response to disease outbreaks, including through sale of its first-ever "pandemic bonds", the bank announced on Wednesday. Drawing on the slow response to the 2013 Ebola outbreak in Africa in which thousands died, the World Bank designed the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), to channel surge funding to developing countries facing the risk of a pandemic. "With this new facility, we have taken a momentous step that has the potential to save millions of lives and entire economies from one of the greatest systemic threats we face," World Bank president Jim Yong-kim said in a statement. "We are moving away from the cycle of panic and neglect that has characterized so much of our approach to pandemics." The fund will provide $500m over the next five years through a combination of sales of the bonds and derivatives, cash and future commitments from donor countries, the World Bank said in a statement. Germany provide an in...
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