By: Momodou L Jaiteh
Trust Africa, the pan-African developmental foundation over the weekend continued the distribution exercise of some 30, 000 face masks to frontline healthcare providers as the on-going battle against Covid-19 pandemic intensifies across the West African country.
The foundation which is a think-tank working for the development of the African continent and its people with an expressed commitment towards the on-going fight by providing the much-needed relief to healthcare workers in Senegal as part of its contribution to the concerted efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
The distribution exercise kicked off on Wednesday with donations made to healthcare works within Dakar and its suburbs then reaching regions of Thies on Thursday and Ziguinchor on Friday (January 29).
Presenting the high-quality masks to hospitals in Dakar, Dr. Ebrima SALL, Trust Africa’s Executive Director, reiterated the aims behind the move saying they were geared to “help the most vulnerable populations of our dear continent”.
Dr. Sall further explains: “this modest donation to members of the medical profession in our hospitals and health centers which are now overwhelmed by the pandemic will help to curtail the spread of the virus.”
While noting that his foundation was committed to the welfare of Africa and its people, Sall expressed immense gratitude to Trust Africa’s partner, V6 CO Online Medical Supplies, for providing the masks, adding that the foundation would not relent in its determination to bring succor to the most vulnerable communities in Africa through its various intervention programs.
Receiving the gesture, Prof. Suzanne Oumou Niang, a departmental head at Le Dantec Hospital in Dakar, hailed the donation saying face masks meant a lot for them as health practitioners and they would be crucial in the fight against the Covid 19 pandemic. She therefore thanked Trust Africa and its partners for the “humanitarian action.”
Meanwhile, the on-going distribution of the masks represents the second gesture by Trust Africa Foundation to provide relief in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Senegal.
It will be recalled that an initial sum of six million dollars was released to the Senegalese authorities when the first cases of COVID-19 were announced in the country. The same gesture has also been extended to Zimbabwe and The Gambia. The masks, worth about seventy million CFA, would be distributed to hospitals, health facilities and institutions working night and day against the pandemic in support of their efforts and as an expression of commitment to vulnerable communities.
The masks in the N95 range were obtained with the help of the American organization, V6 CO Online Medical Supplies.