This Wednesday, a shipment of 90 tons of humanitarian aid arrived from the World Health Organization (WHO) in coordination with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and from the Russian Federation, in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The coordinator of the United Nations Organization (UN) System in the country, Peter Grohmann, explained that this is the first humanitarian shipment by the multilateral body to respond to efforts to contain the pandemic.
“This is the first UN humanitarian shipment to support the response to the Covid-19 outbreak in Venezuela, in a joint effort by UNICEF, PAHO, WHO and the Population Fund to bring vital supplies to be distributed in the most vulnerable health centers and communities,” said the diplomat.
Grohmann indicated that in an initial phase they will be distributed to 14 of the 46 sentinel hospitals, 50 outpatient clinics and care centers, while detailing that the shipment includes 28 thousand protective equipment for health workers in the first line of response.
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Specifically, oxygen concentrators, pediatric beds, hygiene kits and a variety of other equipment arrived with which they also seek to support efforts to strengthen the primary care system in the country.
He also added that support for Venezuela includes various approaches aimed at increasing the response capacity to identify and treat patients, reach out to communities and provide reliable information to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus.
He further asserted that the UN and its partners are requesting $ 61 million to support Venezuela, and stressed that this plan also seeks to prioritize other programs related to food security and education.
For his part, the Russian ambassador to the country, Sergey Mélik-Bagdasárov, stated that this batch of aid is a sign of international solidarity with Venezuela to combat Covid-19 and took the opportunity to recognize the contribution of multilateral authorities in the worldwide fight against the virus.
Translated by JRE/EF
