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 In a report to the G20 meeting in Venice the panel said the $15 bln
per year of investments it recommended doubled current spending
levels but was "negligible" compared with the costs of another major
outbreak of a new contagious illness.
"The economic case for these additional investments is
overwhelming," said former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers,
who co-chaired the 23-member panel along with World Trade
Organization Chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Singapore's former
finance minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Summers told Reuters in an interview he was "guardedly optimistic"
its recommendations would be implemented and said "we won't be
reluctant to speak out" if they are not.
"Spending tens of billions of dollars could save tens of trillions,"
he said.
To plug "major gaps" in pandemic preparedness, the panel identified
four main areas for action: infectious disease surveillance,
resilience of national health systems, supply and delivery of
vaccines and other medicines, and global governance.
The report, titled "Global deal for a pandemic age", called for the
creation of a $10 bln annual Global Health Threats Fund, plus $5 bln
to strengthen the World Health Organization and create dedicated
pandemic facilities at the World Bank and multilateral development
banks.
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 In addition, low and
middle-income income countries would need to add
about 1% of gross domestic product to public
spending on health over the next five years, it
said.
"Achieving safety from pandemics will require a
basic shift in thinking about international
cooperation," said Shanmugaratnam. "It is the
ultimate case for both national self-interest
and international solidarity at the same time."
The panel was set up in January and includes
prominent names such as former European Central
Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet, Ana Botin,
executive chairman of the Santander group, and
Guntram Wolff, head of the Bruegel think-tank.
The G20, chaired this year by Italy, will
consider its recommendations in the lead up to a
joint finance and health ministers' meeting in
October.
Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters the finance ministers
had been "generally very positive" about the
report and she was confident it would be taken
forward.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
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