The United Nations Development Programme has launched an initiative to help governments and the private sector in developing countries provide insurance for crises such as pandemics and natural catastrophes, it said on Monday.
Disaster recovery costs the world’s 77 poorest countries an average of $29 billion annually, the UNDP said in a statement.
Only 3% of this cost is covered by insurance, forcing countries to bear the cost of recovery themselves or rely on humanitarian aid, the UNDP added.