In the ongoing effort to address access inequities to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, the World Health Organization on Thursday announced a new strategic plan and budget for its Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator that calls for $23.4 billion over the next 12 months.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, said current inequalities in access to treatments and vaccines is prolonging the pandemic everywhere and risking the emergence of new, more dangerous variants that could evade current tools to fight the disease.

The new plan for the WHO initiative, which is also known as the ACT-Accelerator, was announced on Thursday, and it sets out urgent actions to address crucial gaps in access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, vaccines and personal protective equipment in low- and middle-income countries.

“To end the pandemic, governments, manufacturers and donors must fully fund the ACT-Accelerator to address inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said.

He added: “In focusing its energies on addressing the great equity gap for these tools, the ACT-Accelerator is bolstering its role as an ally for countries side-lined by market forces in securing life-saving interventions. Fully funding the ACT-Accelerator is a global health security imperative for us all — the time to act is now.”

The WHO noted that only 0.4 percent of tests and 0.5 percent of vaccines administered worldwide have been used in low-income countries, despite these countries comprising 9 percent of the global population.

Tedros said delivering this plan could help prevent at least 5 million deaths and save the global economy more than $5.3 trillion, as well as accelerate the end of the pandemic everywhere.

The new strategic plan, which integrates key findings of the recent Strategic Review, will see the ACT-Accelerator leverage its progress to date, to shift to a more targeted focus on addressing access gaps in underserved countries, delivering vaccines, treatments, tests and personal protective equipment where they’re most needed.

The ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Council provides high-level political leadership and advice on global advocacy and resource mobilization to the initiative, and is co-chaired by Norway and South Africa.

The prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Store, said: “While a new normal is emerging for people who have access to COVID-19 tools, this is still a distant prospect for the majority of the world’s population. Without access to COVID-19 tools, we will not be able to achieve full economic and social recovery.”

Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, said: “Every delay in fully funding the ACT-Accelerator will see the pandemic prolonged, more lives will be lost and more livelihoods will be devastated. We need equitable access now to COVID-19 treatments, tests and vaccines, and this is a plan to achieve that.”

So far, the ACT-Accelerator has delivered more than 425 million vaccine doses to 144 countries and territories through COVAX, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine.