22 December 2020 (DJIBOUTI, Djibouti) - The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Union to Djibouti and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) yesterday held a Media Day to mark the handing over of medical supplies to the Government of Djibouti during an official ceremony at the Warehouse of the Ministry of Health of Djibouti located at PK12.
The Executive Secretary of IGAD, Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, the Minister of Health of Djibouti, HE Mohamed Warsama Dirieh, the Finance Minister, HE Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh, the Head of the European Delegation to Djibouti and IGAD, Ambassador Aidan O’Hara, the Ambassador of Germany to Djibouti and IGAD, HE Michael Hausler, and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Djibouti, Ms Barbara Manzi participated in the short ceremony handover ceremony.
The supplies are part of the EU-IGAD COVID-19 Response project in IGAD region and consist mostly of Personal Protective Equipment, test kits for COVID-19 (25,056 tests), two standard ambulances, one advanced ambulance and a mobile laboratory worth 1.9 million Euros. They will be put in use at cross-border areas. Similar events are planned at all the IGAD member countries.
In a short intervention in front of media practitioners invited to the event, Dr Workneh expressed his satisfaction ‘to witness that the supplies meant to fight COVID-19 have reached the people they were intend to reach: communities here in Djibouti, the people in need of these supplies’.
The EU has responded to us immediately after the IGAD Summit on COVID-19. We are aspiring to be very close to the communities. We thank our host country, our partners beginning with the European Union. IGAD is working very closely with each and every one of you in different areas’, the Executive Secretary said.
The European Union allocated a 60 million Euros package to help tackle the health and socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in support of IGAD in its mandate to coordinate national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Horn of Africa. It is part of the Team Europe Global Response package (EU and its member states) to support partner countries face the pandemic and its consequences.
The project focuses on vulnerable groups, including migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, and cross-border communities, including more than euro 13 million worth of medical supplies and equipment.
Main activities include the provision of health responses, WASH services, prevention of gender-based violence and risk communication. The project also helps ensure borders and critical supply chains so as they are safe for trade. Through the component managed by GIZ, it promotes also digital solutions to monitor the crisis. The project aims to support more than 1 million people across the region.
To ensure its regional and multi-sectoral dimensions, UNOPS manages the project with implementing partners – IGAD, International Organization for Migration (IOM), TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GIZ manages the digitalisation component.
| Please click here to watch the RTD TV |
