Donors have pledged an additional $15.3 million to support quick action by the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle disease outbreaks and humanitarian health crises through its emergency response fund in 2018, the Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE).

Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland announced contributions ranging from $20,000 to $5.6 million at a conference hosted at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland recently – increasing CFE funding levels to $23 million.

This will enable the rapid financing of health response operations in the coming months filling that critical gap between the moment the need for an emergency response is identified and the point at which funds from other sources can be released. WHO will seek to secure further donor commitments to achieve its $100 million funding target for the 2018/2019 biennium.