Kabul, 13 April – H. E. Ferozuddin Feroz, Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan (MoPH), Dr Rik Peeperkorn WHO representative and Mr Luigi Pandolfi, Head of European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) received COVID-19 medical supply cargo at the Hamid Karzai International Airport today.
Under the leadership of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, WHO has been supporting the response to COVID-19 since late January 2020 in the following areas; training of health workers in infection prevention and control, case management, establishment of 7 testing laboratories, surveillance and case investigation, health information and screening at the points of entry, and risk communication and community engagement. WHO very much appreciative of the specific assistance from ECHO, USAID and the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund to help fight COVID-19.
With a small UN team, we visited the Southern & Western Regions in the country. We learned from Governors and their teams, civil society, and health care workers at all levels. We visited hospitals, laboratories, and entry points. Government led; key sectors, civil society, private sector and health-care providers, in particular, are doing their best to slowdown the transmission of COVID-19.
Risk communication and community engagement including social distancing and washing hands as often as possible, combined with early detection, testing of people who may have COVID-19, isolation and contact tracing will be key in the fight against COVID-19.
Dr. Rik Peeperkorn
Current Supply
The current arrival of supplies and equipment include; PPEs with 10,000 gowns of different sizes, 600 packs of gloves, 1,500 clear plastic face shields, 200 soft frame goggles with indirect vent, 60 packs of respiratory masks, 100 infrared thermometers, 1,200 packs of surgical masks, 60 packs of respiratory masks, and 20 packs of biohazard bags. Additionally, today and tomorrow WHO will have delivered 21 supplementary kits of emergency medicine that will cater to 120,000 patients, 27 hospital beds, 31 oxygen concentrators, 21 intubation sets and 11 autoclaves and consumables and 30.000 PPE (locally produced), to be used for COVID-19.
More WHO supplies to support COVID-19 including testing kits (worth; 1.8 million USD) are planned to arrive in the coming weeks. An additional 60.000 personal protective equipment kits, which are globally in short supply, will be procured in a staggered manner and delivered to MoPH.
The current supply was officially transferred to MoPH to distribute across the country based on need and level of requirement as MoPH deems appropriate.
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