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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
READOUT: Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen’s Meeting
with Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the
World Health Organization (WHO)
April 5, 2022

WASHINGTON - Today, Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen met with Director General
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization (WHO) to discuss the
COVID-19 response and longer-term financing for, and strengthening of, the global
architecture for pandemic preparedness, including through the G20 Finance Health Task
Force (FHTF) and a financial intermediary fund (FIF) for pandemic preparedness.
Secretary Yellen welcomed Dr. Tedrosʼ and WHOʼs leadership and discussed the importance
of continuing to work toward the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population in all
countries this year, as well as the challenges to increasing vaccination rates. Secretary Yellen
emphasized that the U.S. remains committed to helping countries to get more shots in arms
around the world and to supporting robust, well-coordinated e�orts, including with the
international financial institutions.
Secretary Yellen and Dr. Tedros also emphasized the critical goal of addressing gaps in
pandemic preparedness and financing now. Secretary Yellen stressed that the G20 FinanceHealth Task Force should play a key role in bringing Finance Ministries and their Health
counterparts more directly into e�orts to boost cooperation and reinforce the global health
architecture. They agreed on the urgency of tackling the chronic under-funding of pandemic
preparedness before the worldʼs attention turns elsewhere. Secretary Yellen underscored
the United Statesʼ commitment to working closely with the WHO, the World Bank and G20
partners during Indonesiaʼs presidency to develop a financial intermediary fund (FIF) on
pandemic preparedness housed at the World Bank as an important part of the global e�orts
to improve pandemic preparedness finance. They agreed that a FIF would be a concrete
example of health and finance experts drawing on their respective strengths to design an
important element of the pandemic preparedness architecture.

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