The foundation, which went live in January 2021, aims to "mobilize more support for the WHO, from the public, from businesses, from philanthropists," its chief executive Anil Soni told AFP.
And with national budgets tightening around the world, governments "are having to make tough decisions about where they give their money," said Soni.The foundation says it exists because the WHO lacks sufficient resources to fulfill its mandate. "Part of our job is to be a matchmaker, is to make sure that we can facilitate dialogue and share information," said Soni.
On September 19, the WHO Foundation announced that it had partnered with venture capital firm OurCrowd to launch a $200 million investment fund focused on breakthrough health technologies.In addition, the companies in which the fund has invested will have to commit to ensuring fair access to their new technologies—one of the WHO's chief gripes during the pandemic response, as poorer nations went to the back of the queue for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.