The government eyes tapping the World Bank’s (WB) Pandemic Fund to help boost the country’s biosecurity measures for animal health, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The Pandemic Fund is a $300-million fund designed to help developing prepare and respond to future pandemics.
Arnel De Mesa, DA assistant secretary for operations, said in an interview the agency proposed a $25 million (P1.38 billion) grant fund to boost livestock and animal health consistent with the goals of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Scale Up program.
PRDP Scale Up is an expanded DA project addressing gaps in commodity value chains by boosting the efficiency of the food supply chain and proposed to be funded through a $600 million or approximately P33 billion WB loan.
“This is tied up with the PRDP Scale Up project recently approved by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee in a tech board meeting at the cabinet committee level so this will be like a grant component,” De Mesa said.
According to De Mesa, the pandemic fund can be jointly or separately managed by the DA and the Department of Health (DOH).
But the DA clarified the proposal is the agency’s proposal and does not account for the DOH’s plans.
De Mesa also said the agencies have sent their respective expressions of interest prior to the 19 May deadline but acknowledged he is not privy to the amount requested by the DOH.
“Our focus in the DA is surveillance, to improve the biosecurity of our laboratories as well as our response animal diseases,” De Mesa said.
