As the novel coronavirus known as Covid-19 spreads rapidly across the world, we now face another dimension of the “globalisation and its discontents” argument.

Recent disease outbreaks, like Ebola and Zika, have demonstrated the need to anticipate pandemics and contain them before they emerge.

The World Bank Group has launched Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF), a “fast-disbursing global financing mechanism” to protect the world against deadly pandemics.