The Group of 20 world leaders on Saturday committed to mobilising resources to combat the Ebola epidemic that has killed some 5,000 people, but stopped short of agreeing to a global pandemic fund.
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The G20 issued a joint statement on the crisis, saying all members are "committed to do what is necessary to ensure the international effort can extinguish the outbreak and address its medium-term economic and humanitarian costs".
Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Helen Szoke said a lack of urgency and specific commitments in the statement meant there was a real risk a U.N. target to treat 70 percent of cases by Dec. 1 will not be met.
"I think its reasonable that all of the G20 countries are explicit about what their financial commitment can be both in the short-term and the longer term," Szoke told Reuters.
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The World Bank, which has suggested the cost of the outbreak could rise as high as $30 billion, has proposed setting up a global pandemic emergency facility.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said on Friday the idea of establishing a global emergency fund that could quickly respond to a health crisis had received interest from some leaders. Funds could be raised on the international bond markets and paid back over time, he said.
The G20 statement called on both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to explore new flexible mechanisms to address the economic effects of future comparable crises, but did not specify a particular approach.