Editor's note: Thomas O. Falk is a London-based political analyst and commentator. He holds a Master of Arts degree in international relations from the University of Birmingham and specializes in U.S. affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

On October 29, G20 finance and health ministers will meet in Rome. The meeting will be chaired jointly by Daniele Franco, Italian economics and finance minister, and Roberto Speranza, Italian health minister.

The latter is essential as Italy seeks to establish a new fund, the Global Health Financing Board and the Financial Intermediary Fund, to provide financial aid to prevent and control future pandemics. The majority of the G20 members support the project. However, such an undertaking would undermine the World Health Organization (WHO) and show that the international community did not learn from its previous mistakes.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020, the G20 has been working to find solutions to combat the current COVID-19 problem and tackle future pandemics effectively.

As part of these efforts, the Group has established the G20 Plan of Action to help world economies deal with the crisis, an initiative to support the most vulnerable countries through the Debt Service Suspension Initiative as well as the implementation of the Special Drawing Rights, the allocation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Several efforts have also stimulated economic recoveries, such as increasing productivity through investments geared towards a green and digital transition.

Evidentially, the G20 believes that it will not be possible to develop a coordinated global approach to dealing with future pandemics without an adequate funding system. This is why the G20 has set up a high-level independent body to fund the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response. Establishing the Global Health Financing Board and the Financial Intermediary Fund is hence considered a coherent move towards universal health pandemic prevention.

However, not all G20 members are advocates of the model. For example, China has stated that it supports strengthening the global governance system and financing pandemic prevention. Still, all of this should continue to work within the framework of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The words from Beijing make sense in various ways, and not only because a unilateral G20 model calls into question the authority and effectiveness of global health policies. A pandemic remains a global problem – a strong WHO is necessary to tackle it.

The WHO must be at the center of our global health. However, that is only possible if it is financially stable.

Unfortunately, it is still not the case.

This is mainly due to the fact that the originally fixed compulsory contributions of the member states, which were based on the individual prosperity and population size, finance the WHO. However, contributions based on this model ceased in 1993 and has therefore decreased in real terms compared to increasing economic output and price developments.

Moreover, various countries regularly lag behind their mandatory amounts and the WHO is increasingly financed by voluntary payments. These currently make up a staggering 75 percent of the total budget. It is a shameful standard that urgently needs to change.

It also does not help those countries that contribute the most to the WHO budget are the least dependent on it. Wealthy nations such as Germany and developing countries such as China have well-developed health care systems, modern laboratories and research institutes, as well as well-trained experts and can react to newly emerging diseases. Other developing and underdeveloped countries, on the other hand, struggle to keep their populations healthy even in normal times.

These countries all the more depend on the WHO's guidelines and expert knowledge.

Moreover, no country, however wealthy, well-equipped and prepared, can defeat a pandemic single-handedly. Every government needs to be cognizant: their people are not protected until a virus is defeated globally. Solidarity, in this case, is not a choice but the only viable option.

The pandemic had mercilessly exposed these weaknesses in our global health system. To now transform the crisis into an opportunity, the problems must finally be addressed and reforms implemented immediately.

Therefore, it must become the priority of the international community to finally strengthen the WHO in a targeted financial manner before one thinks about realizing the idea envisaged by some members of the G20. The allocation of capital is urgently needed by the WHO – the body that remains the key to global health.

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