‘Team Europe’ earmarks €2.3M to shield Filipinos from Covid
THE European Union’s (EU) ambassador to the Philippines Luc Véron said “Team Europe” has activated a €20.5-million program between the bloc and the World Health Organization (WHO), which covers eight priority countries in Southeast Asia.
Véron, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe formally launched the program on March 15 to control the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country.
Part of the assistance will be spent on Whobacked activities to help prepare for the rollout of vaccines. Majority of the funding will be invested by WHO to further strengthen the capacity of the Philippine health system to rapidly identify, respond to and suppress Covid-19 outbreaks. This is in addition to the EU funding provided to the COVAX facility for the supply of vaccines.
From the EU’S contribution, €2.3 million, or around P133 million, will directly benefit the Philippines. Other beneficiary-countries are Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The EU-WHO partnership aims to protect their peoples’ health and access to health services, especially among the most vulnerable, by strengthening their health systems.
“Team Europe is committed to helping Filipinos and health authorities beat Covid-19,” Véron said during the online event. “Through the program, the EU is proud to support the rollout of vaccines in the Philippines.”
As the largest contributor to the COVAX facility, Team Europe has to-date provided a total of
€2.2 billion, or P130 billion, to help 92 low- and middle-income countries—including the Philippines—help gain access to vaccines.
Another goal of the collaboration is to increase coordination and synergies between WHO and the Asean on emergency response and preparedness, given the shared objectives, similarities and challenges shared by member-states in the region.
Specific areas of actions under the eu grant are: strengthening surveillance, risk assessment and contact-tracing activities; enhancing the functions of national laboratories; improving case management, infection, prevention and control; utilizing risk communications and community engagement approaches; implementing specific public-health measures for travel and points of entry; scaling up readiness for Covid-19 vaccines; identifying and maintaining essential health services and systems; as well as operational support and logistics.
“[Vaccines] have started to arrive... but it will be many months before this pandemic is over. That means all of us need to keep doing the basics... The health system across the Philippines must be able to rapidly identify people with Covid-19, trace their close contacts, [as well as] provide places for their quarantine and isolation to break the chains of transmission,” explained Abeyasinghe. “[Every one: from local chief executives, officials of local government units] to civil-society organizations and citizens, needs to spread the message about Covid-19 prevention.”
“Global cooperation and solidarity [are] key to fight Covid-19, and to ensure early access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments everywhere. No one is safe until everyone is safe,” pointed out Véron. “This is why the EU has been leading the multilateral response to make sure no one is left behind.”