Namibia has received a donation of personal protective equipment from the European Union and Finland to support its fight against Covid-19.

Namibia’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation had submitted an official request for support to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism as the country battles to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases.

Based on the emergency assistance requested by the Namibian authorities from the EU member states, Finland donated 2.36 million masks, 200,000 protective visors, 30,000 medical gowns, 100,000 syringes and 189,000 swabs.

‘It has been disheartening to see how Namibia’s health system is under severe strain, and that the hospitals are overwhelmed with coping with the high number of Covid-19 patients’, Deputy Head of the Finnish Mission to Namibia, Matti Karvanen, said in a joint statement.

‘Finland wants to stand in solidarity with the people of Namibia in this hour of need’.

The European Commission is coordinating the pooling of assistance and supports member states in the arrangement of logistics and in transport costs.

‘The EU is responding to an urgent appeal from the people of Namibia’, EU Ambassador to Namibia, Sinikka Antila, said.

‘Through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, we can coordinate and expedite the delivery of lifesaving assistance to countries such as Namibia, demonstrating the solidarity of the people of the EU with those countries facing massive challenges due to the [Covid-19] pandemic’.

Source: Namibia Economist

Photo source: Africa CDC