By Mama A. Touray
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Wednesday, 28th July, 2021 donated 400,000 medical gloves to the Ministry of Health.
The donated medical gloves was procured by UNFPA but funded by the Chinese Government while the handing over took place at the Central Medical Store in Kotu.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony of the medical gloves, Mr. Kunle Adeniyi Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, congratulated the Chinese government for their continued support to The Gambia and for partnering with UNFPA to support the people of The Gambia as part of South-South Cooperation effort.
The main aim of the cooperation, he disclosed that it is to strengthened the National Covid-19 response and ensure the continuity of essential health services for all people across the country, amid the pandemic.
The Covid-19 pandemic has crippled health systems in the readiest of nations, saying “on a daily basis, we see its impact on the Gambia’s healthcare system like we have never seen before. This therefore calls for strategic collaboration by all actors to ensure that our people, especially those often left behind are catered to put into consideration on the national response and that families, communities and the nation as a whole are provided with quality care at all times.”
The Country Representative added that ” The Gloves being handed over today worth over GMD3,000,000 and over GMD10,000,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies have been ordered by UNFPA and will be arriving in the next few weeks. Some of these equipment include; delivery beds, anesthetic machines, ultra sound scanners, oxygen concentrators, suction pump, delivery-sets, caesarean section sets, thermometers and blood pressure machines just to mention a few.
He as well reaffirmed the UNFPA’s commitment to support the government and people of The Gambia in preventing the spread of Covid-19 and ensuring the continued provision of essential health services especially reproductive and maternal health services.
The Chinese ambassador to the Gambia His Excellency Ma Jain Chun said the most serious pandemic in a century is still wreaking havoc in The Gambia and Africa. Saying in the face of COVID-19, Gambian government and its people have taken strong measures to slow the spread of the virus.
He explained that an initiative on partnership for Africa’s Development was jointly launched by China and African countries at the UN Security Council, it aims at calling on the international community to support Africa in public health sector.
Ambassador Chun assured that China will do its utmost to provide needed support to African countries with international communities, include the UN Agencies and the WHO representatives.
“China is willing to help The Gambia improve its medical and health level through medical equipment and medicine donation, sending medical teams and Human Resources cooperation,” Ambassador Ma Jain Chum said.
According to him Chinese government will provide The Gambia with 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a grant, as preparation to receive them is underway.
The minister of Health Dr Amdou Samateh however sent his gratitude to the UNFPA and the Government of China for their continuous support to The Gambia government.
He said the medical items donated includes, maternal and newborn care supplies and medical appliances, medical supplies for healthcare workers and hygiene products, which worth over D31 million (US$620,000).
The cooperation project was funded by Chinese government and implemented by UNFPA.