Congolese president, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi has set up a National Solidarity Fund against the coronavirus (FNSCC).
By Mathias Odiekila
The fund, whose lifespan is linked to the existence of the pandemic is tasked with collecting and centralizing funds and donations for the benefit of the response to the pandemic.
It will help fund, among other things, the activities of the multisectoral committee for the response to Covid-19 and health workers involved in the fight.
When appointed coordinator of the multisectoral coronavirus response committee, Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tanfum requested a budget of $135 million to fight the pandemic in the DR Congo, as part of a 12-month strategic plan.
In this regard, the country already benefits from various forms of assistance, including 60 tonnes of materials from China.
The country has also received $ 47 million from the World Bank to finance the activities of the emergency response project to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The project aims to build the government’s capacity to prepare for and respond to the pandemic, with a focus on provinces that are at the center of the fight against the disease, the World Bank said in a statement.
Other donations come from various areas, in particular from the mining company Kibali Barrick Gold located in the northeast of the country, which brought $ 1.5 million in materials and equipment, or even the United Bank for Africa, which offered $ 150,000 to the Congolese government to fight against the pandemic.
Political actors, artists, businesses and various structures are also increasing donations both in Kinshasa and in other provinces where the Covid-19 is already rampant.
To date, the pandemic has affected 183 people in the DRC, with 20 deaths, ten recoveries, 111 patients with improving conditions, 39 others hospitalised, including two put on ventilation in the capital, Kinshasa.
MYW/te/fss/as/APA