Bloomberg offers $40 million to support COVID-19 fight in Africa

New York, US | THE INDEPENDENT |  Days after Mike Bloomberg launched a program to help American mayors improve their coronavirus response, Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced a new $40 million global initiative to combat the pandemic on a global scale.

“Last week, we launched an effort to help US mayors manage COVID-19. Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies is committing $40M to prevent and slow its spread around the world, particularly in Africa. Millions of lives and livelihoods depend on getting this response right,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

The new $40 million fund will support immediate action to prevent or slow the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable low- and middle-income countries, especially Africa.

Bloomberg Philanthropies will partner with the global health organization Vital Strategies on global response efforts, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), to support lower income countries and cities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bloomberg is building on his years as a philanthropist who has invested more than $2.5 billion in public health initiatives globally, and on his experience leading public health crises as mayor of New York City, including launching a pandemic influenza plan for the city, and leading the city through the swine flu outbreak in 2009 and outbreaks of West Nile virus in 2012.

“We need to slow transmission of the virus and minimize the impact of the outbreak in all countries,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, Bloomberg Philanthropies Founder and three-term mayor of New York City.

“As we launch the Coronavirus Local Response Initiative this week here in the U.S., we also are creating a new effort to prevent its spread globally, particularly in Africa. I know from my experience as mayor of New York City that giving public health professionals the tools to protect the public is vital to saving lives – and to help mitigate the kind of economic and social damage that could make this crisis even more debilitating for families and communities.”