Ebola has killed nearly 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but one clause prevents a payout to help fight the outbreak
outbreak in west Africa in 2014-16 was the worst in history, with nearly 30,000 cases and a death toll of more than 11,000. It exposed a flaw in funding mechanisms to tackle such health emergencies: by the time money arrives the disease has already spread. So to speed things up the World Bank created “pandemic bonds”, a type of insurance scheme. In 2017 they were sold to private investors, who would lose their money if any of six deadly pandemics hit.
Last year Ebola struck the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has already killed nearly 2,000 people. But the scheme has not paid out. The 386-page bond prospectus contains a clause making payout conditional on the disease spreading to a second country, with at least 20 people dying there. Ebola has indeed spread, to neighbouring Uganda. But it has killed just three people there, with no new cases since June.
If the insurance had been designed to cover all severe outbreaks it would have been “prohibitively expensive”, says Mukesh Chawla, who co-ordinates the World Bank’s pandemic emergency-financing facility. As well as the bond proceeds, the institution holds a smaller pot of money, which can be disbursed at the discretion of experts. It has already allocated $50m from this to tackling the Ebola outbreak, alongside $350m from other sources.
It is inevitably hard to design insurance for rare events. Indeed, says Andrew Farlow of Oxford University, it may be impossible to set triggers so that the bonds deliver when needed, at the same time as providing the returns that investors demand. Before the World Bank issued its bonds, consultants ran a computer simulation of half a million outbreaks of filoviruses .
In all insurance contracts the cost of cover exceeds the expected payout . For pandemic bonds and related swaps this risk premium is about $17m a year. That money would be better spent on public-health systems and surveillance to try to catch outbreaks earlier, says Olga Jonas, a fellow at the Harvard Global Health Institute who has previously worked on risk-financing at the World Bank. In Uganda, vigilance stopped Ebola from spreading. That saved lives, as well as investors’ millions.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Inside the elite, detail-obsessed world of the people who judge the Oscars of classic carsWhen you're showing your car at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, details matter: Windshield wipers the wrong shade? Tailpipe the wrong shape? Washers in your engine too shiny? That's going to cost you.
Leer más »
EVERGLOW Hit New Peak on World Digital Song Sales Chart With Three Songs In Top 10EVERGLOW earned one of the biggest chart starts for a K-pop girl group with 'Bon Bon Chocolat' and now their sophomore release is proving even bigger results with 'Adios.'
Leer más »
What Cindy McCain Has Learned From Navigating Grief On The World StageCindy McCain is a businesswoman, philanthropist, and a very famous political spouse. Now, one year after the death of her husband, Senator John McCain, she’s opening up about what she’s learned in the time without him.
Leer más »
5 Things You Need to Do in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Disney WorldFrom having a drink in the cantina to building your own droid, here are five things you need to do when you visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, which opens today at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Disney World. GalaxysEdge
Leer más »
are these the most beautiful instagram accounts in the world?You're gonna want to follow these accounts.
Leer más »
Basketball-sized world-record grapefruit grown in LouisianaA basketball-sized grapefruit has brought two world records to a Louisiana couple.
Leer más »