THE COVID-19 pandemic has shown that countries need to make major investments to build resilience across all sectors and not just health, said World Bank Group President Mr David Malpass on Friday as he addressed the Global Health Summit.

Emphasising the importance of building social safety nets that provide digital cash transfers, the top World Bank official said countries need to focus on adding to the resilience of food security, basic health, and education.

"To build preparedness, we need major investments in infrastructure, and digital connectivity – these are crucial – while maintaining our focus on the particular risks to women, girls, the poorest and most vulnerable. And with about 75% of emerging infectious diseases coming from animals, we must invest in sustainable and safe food systems," he said.

In the first year of the pandemic, the World Bank Group committed USD 108 million to help countries respond to the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic. This included a record 65 per cent surge in World Bank and International Development Association (IDA) commitments in 2020.

They have also authorised USD 12 billion to help countries access and deploy vaccines, with the goal of vaccinating a billion people in developing countries. By mid-year, they expect to have vaccine support operations in 50 countries with at least USD 4 billion committed.

Mr Malpass also urged countries with excess supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine to release their surplus doses to developing countries "as soon as possible."

"It will take large new resources to build resilience to shocks. Many low- and middle-income countries need stronger health systems, both for their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns to succeed and to be able to manage and recover from future outbreaks," he said.

The World Bank Group has committed USD 150 billion for investments into sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years to negate the pandemic’s impact on human capital.