We look forward to your participation on Wednesday.  A reminder that we are asking panelists to join the Webex meeting 10 minutes prior to its start at 8am EDT.

Best regards,

Jennifer

Dear Tamar,

I am very glad that you can join us for this event. I am attaching the calendar invitation with the Webex details, and below a few further details about the agenda for the event.

The majority of the allotted time will be a panel discussion facilitated by the chair(s).  Panelists are not required to prepare a presentation. We will share a few questions in advance, and the final agenda will be confirmed and shared shortly.

·         Welcome (5 min)

·         Introductory remarks (10 min)

·         Chair(s) introduce panelists (10 min)

·         Q&A panel discussion (60 min)

·         Chair(s) close webinar (5 min)

Webinar Description

“Fiscal and Monetary Policies in the COVID-19 Response: Exploring the effects on Health Financing”

COVID-19 has hit countries with a double shock:  health and economic.  As the Coronavirus spreads, health spending needs rise, then disease control measures result in declining economic activity.   Large falls in economic growth rates are predicted for countries of at income levels in 2020. Countries have responded with a range of fiscal and monetary instruments to raise money for the response, to support vulnerable households and businesses, and to bolster the economy.  The impact of these policies on health financing is not yet well understood, one of the purposes of this Webinar. While this is an immediate shock to health financing resilience, there are also opportunities countries can take which will help them emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with health financing that is more resilient to future shocks and more sustainable in the long term.  To support countries to meet these goals, the World Bank, the Global Financing Facility (GFF), and the Revisiting Health Financing Technical Initiative from the Joint Learning Network (JLN) have joined forces to facilitate health financing response monitoring, access to the growing knowledge base and mutual learning – this webinar is one of the scheduled activities.

In the first of this webinar series, government experts from finance and health will discuss what fiscal and monetary policies have been implemented in their countries during the COVID-19 crisis, why, and whether there is any evidence of their impact as yet. Panelists will reflect on the resulting short- and medium-term implications for health financing.  This virtual event will be jointly chaired by World Bank and IMF and is co-sponsored by the Joint Learning Network and the Global Financing Facility.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Again, many thanks for joining us.

Best regards,

Ira

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