The United States has pledged $700 million to the new Pandemic Fund.

The Pandemic Fund is a multilateral financing mechanism dedicated to providing multi-year grants for enhancing pandemic preparedness in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. 

The fund assists countries and regions in strengthening their health systems and increasing their investments, enabling them to prevent, prepare, and respond effectively to health threats, WHO said. 

The US believes in its mission to provide a dedicated stream of additional, long-term financing to strengthen core capacities in low - and middle-income countries, said the US Department of State on Tuesday.

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Late last week in Geneva, the US delegation to the World Health Assembly, led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, together with delegates from other WHO-member countries, successfully adopted a number of amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), the most significant updates to the IHR in nearly 20 years. 

These amendments will enhance transparency and timeliness of information and make the global health security architecture stronger overall while maintaining full respect for sovereignty of individual states.

These amendments will also improve access to critical health products to more equitably prevent, prepare, and respond to pandemic emergencies, regardless of where they arise; and take steps to better identify and close critical gaps in health security capacities, including through the establishment of an Implementation Committee, to stop outbreaks before they threaten Americans and US security.

These developments will ensure the United States is better prepared to respond to the next international health emergency, demonstrating that countries can come together and tackle global challenges to improve the lives of people around the world and provide momentum for concluding the Pandemic Agreement, which nations agreed to finalize by May 2025, said the spokesperson at the US Department of State.