Dhaka, 10 June 2021: The Federal Republic of Germany, as represented by the Ministry of Health (BMG) has donated to WHO Bangladesh 462 000 non-sterile surgical face masks for protection against COVID-19 worth USD 145 068. This shipment is part of an in-kind donation of 121 million surgical medical masks with a total value of EUR 49 million made in support of WHO response to the COVID-19 outbreak in several countries.
The timely dispatch of these essential supplies becomes vital in WHO’s response to the pandemic given the upward trend of COVID-19 positive cases in the South-East Asia Region over the past weeks. Since March 2020, Bangladesh has registered a total of 815 282 positive cases across the country and 12 913 deaths, with the highest weekly count case registered in the beginning of May 2021.
As of 05 April 2021, the Government of Bangladesh imposed movement restrictions and other mitigation measures to slow down the spread of the virus which remain in force to this day.
“Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Germany has increased the cooperation with WHO around the world. We are glad to further support WHO’s COVID-19 response in Bangladesh. WHO is a longstanding partner of Germany; we are working side by side fighting against COVID-19. The pandemic has shown us, how connected we are. No country in the world can win the fight against COVID-19 alone. With cases rising again in Bangladesh, it is essential to prevent a further spread of the virus and to continue supporting our partners here” says German Ambassador to Bangladesh, H.E. Peter Fahrenholtz.
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of the many health care workers and humanitarians, as well as government partners and stakeholders involved in the COVID-19 response has been a high priority for WHO since the onset of the pandemic” says WHO Representative to Bangladesh, Dr Bardan Jung Rana. “We are very grateful to the generosity of the Government and people of Germany, which will help meet immediate needs within the recent rise of cases in the country and contribute to protect our frontline workers”.
Germany has been supporting WHO’s response in Bangladesh since the onset of the pandemic contributing to prevent, timely detect and effectively respond to the transmission of COVID-19 in the country, with special attention to the vulnerable populations.
Thanks to the financial support from the German Government channeled through WHO Headquarters, WHO Bangladesh assisted the Institute of Epidemiology and Disease Control Research (IEDCR), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to strengthen contact tracing and outbreak investigation, while providing human resource support, to increase the testing capacity for COVID-19. In addition, operational and logistic support to the IEDCR has been enhanced to boost decentralized sample collection at Upazila and district level and reach the most remote areas across the country.
The generous support from the German Government also ensured human resource support to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), DGHS, MoHFW for points of entry (PoE) surveillance.
“One of the many lessons from this pandemic is that the COVID-19 crisis requires a collective response. Since early 2020, WHO has joined efforts with multiple partners to effectively respond to the pandemic in a joint public health intervention led by the Government of Bangladesh” states Dr Bardan Jung Rana, adding: “Financial and logistics supports from Germany and other key partners were instrumental in enhancing national disease surveillance systems as a key strategy to interrupt chains of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and reducing COVID-19-associated mortality”.
For further information please contact:
Irene Gavieiro Agud, External Communications Officer, gavieiroi@who.int