Ethiopia on Friday secured $82.6 million from the World Bank Group as financial support to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $41.3m grant & $41.3 million credit was signed on Friday by Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Ms. Carolyn Turk, the World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan.
Due to the current global coronavirus outbreak, the signing was done electronically, complying with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for social distancing.
“Although Ethiopia has achieved significant gains in improving health outcomes and strengthening its health system, the COVID 19 outbreak is expected to challenge the nation’s public health preparedness and response systems and negatively impact the economy,” said Carolyn Turk.
“The project will provide much needed emergency funds to help Ethiopia to fill critical resource gaps in its public health emergency preparedness” she added.
The new COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project is designed to help Ethiopia develop counter measures to lessen the devastating effects of COVID-19.
The project will support Ethiopia’s National Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19 by financing the procurement of medical supplies and equipment, building diagnostic capacity and training, improving the health screening of people entering the country, and establishing quarantine, isolation and treatment centers.
It will also support communications and information outreach activities to encourage behavioral change, such as social distancing, hand-washing and sanitation.
The project will also help the country to reduce the potential impact of the epidemic on health systems, social services and economic activity.
The World Bank Group is rolling out a $14 billion fast-track package to strengthen the COVID-19 response in developing countries and shorten the time to recovery.
MG/as/APA