Bloomberg Philanthropies Accelerates Fight Against Global Coronavirus Pandemi
NEW YORK — Just days after Mike Bloomberg launched a program to help American mayors improve their coronavirus response, Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced additional actions and funding to combat the pandemic on a global scale. The new $40 million global initiative will support immediate action to prevent or slow the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable low- and middle-income countries. 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.
Also announced today, the first virtual convening of The Coronavirus Local Response Initiative will take place on Thursday, March 19 at 1pm ET. More than 180 cities will join experts from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative to receive the most up-to-date information on the virus and crisis coaching to manage the public health pandemic. Mike Bloomberg will address the participating city leaders and underscore that their rapid actions over the coming weeks could well set the response model for cities around the world. The Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative will be an ongoing series of virtual convenings that will provide city leaders with technical assistance and coaching, and the chance to share emerging practices with other mayors on the frontlines of the public health crisis.
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.
“Millions of lives depend on getting the coronavirus response right – and so does the economic and social health of communities around the world. 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...