The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic across the world caused by SARS-CoV-2 has put a great strain on national health systems around the world, including the Islamic Republic of Iran. The country reported its first cases and fatalities in the country on 19 February 2020 and to this day continues to fight the battle against the viral infection.

To strengthen the response capacities of the health system during this challenging time, a trilateral collaboration was fostered among the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, WHO, and the World Bank. As a result, a US$ 50 million loan was secured to fund the Islamic Republic of Iran COVID-19 Emergency Response Project (ICERP), which aims to provide the country’s health system with essential and life-saving medical and laboratory equipment.

In this project, a total of 451 devices, along with their consumables, and diagnostic kits were procured and delivered to 137 hospitals and 45 laboratories in all 31 provinces of the country.

The civil health facilities receiving the equipment were identified by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and assessed for environmental and social standards. The WHO country office in Islamic Republic of Iran, as the sole implementer of the project, put out competitive global tenders for the selected devices and supplies on United Nations Global Marketplace, and despite many challenges, including unilateral sanctions and travel restrictions on global and local levels, all the equipment and consumables were procured, distributed across the country, and operationalized in due time. 

An independent verification party conducted visits to all beneficiary facilities to verify the delivery, installation, training, handover and use of the medical equipment as it was intended in the project agreement, as well as their compliance with environmental and social standards in every facility.