ECOWAS Receives €4m Worth COVID-19 Materials from EU, German Govt

By Kuni Tyessi

The German Government in collaboration with the European Union (EU) is supporting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Region with over €4million worth of COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) medical materials.

In a handover ceremony in Abuja, “Team Europe” as the collaboration is now called, delivered PPE including medical masks, sterile gloves, medical aprons, oxygen compressors and more to help ECOWAS member states in the fight against COVID-19.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Head of Cooperation European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mrs. Cécile Tassin-Pelzer said, “as part of a rolling programme of procurements to support the on-going response to Covid-19 and strengthen the health systems in the region, the consignments handed over today contain critical personal protective equipment (PPE) consisting of aprons, gloves and boots, which will be used by the health care workers involved in response activities and patient care.

“The second part of the delivery includes urgently needed ICU equipment, which will be needed for properly setting up ventilators for intensive care patients.”

According to the World health Organization (WHO) as of 01 March 2021, said there were more than 100 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 2 million deaths worldwide.

In the ECOWAS region, more than 300,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 3,000 deaths have been recorded.

Appreciating the gesture from the “Team Europe” collaboration, Director General of the West African Health Organization (WAHO) Professor Stanley Okolo, stated, “I wish to sincerely thank the German Government through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in collaboration with the European Union and the GIZ team for their partnership and commitment toward securing the much needed critical medical supplies.

“It is my hope that this will be a continuation of future collaborations between both institutions.”