March 28, 2024, 11:18 pm


SAMI

Published:
2020-05-30 22:44:32 BdST

ADB to give over $230,000 to boost Covid-19 facilities for urban poor


The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a grant of $231,178 to boost novel coronavirus disease related facilities for the urban poor in Bangladesh.

In a statement on Saturday, the multilateral donor agency said that the fund would be used to ensure primary healthcare services in the 134 ‘Nogor Swastho Kendra’ (urban health centres) in nine city corporations and four municipalities.

“We are pleased to provide this grant assistance to further strengthen government’s efforts in managing the covid-19 pandemic and delivering related services to the people,” it quoted ADB country director Manmohan Parkash.

“This initiative will be a model of providing both covid and non-covid-related healthcare services for over 8 million urban poor through Nogor Swastho Kendro in Bangladesh,” Prakash said in the statement.

It would also create awareness about Covid-19 prevention and management and help the health workers and doctors to detect and treat patients early, according to the ADB official.

ADB to give over $230,000 to boost Covid-19 facilities for urban poorThe funds will be used to set up hand-washing stations and screening booths, provide World Health Organization (WHO) standard personal protective equipment (PPE) suits to about 2,700 doctors and health workers working, the ADB said.

The assistance — sourced from ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund, under the Urban Financing Partnership Facility – will be also use to provide training on Covid-19 detection and treatment to health workers and doctors, says the statement.

Highlighting, the ADB’s support to Bangladesh since the Covid-19 outbreak, the statement said that the Manilla-based agency, on May 7, approved $500 million to strengthen Bangladesh’s efforts to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the -19 pandemic.

On 30 April, ADB approved a $100 million concessional loan to support the government of Bangladesh in its efforts to address the immediate public health requirements of combating the Covid-19 pandemic, it said.

As an immediate response to the Covid-19 pandemic, ADB had released a $350,000 emergency grant for the procurement of medical supplies and equipment, and $1.3 million from an existing project to provide one-time cash support to 22,619 trainees to enable them to continue their ongoing skills training program, reads the ADB statement.

On 13 April, ADB tripled the size of its initial response to Covid-19 to $20 billion and approved measures to streamline its operations for quicker and more flexible delivery of assistance to help its developing member countries counter the severe macroeconomic and health impacts caused by the pandemic, it added.

Unauthorized use or reproduction of The Finance Today content for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited.


Popular Article from Health