CANADA yesterday said it is providing some P44.5 million worth of assistance to the Philippines in its fight to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Canadian Embassy in Manila said two initiatives are being launched to help support the Philippines through the COVID-19 pandemic: A donation of 120,000 N95 PPE masks valued at CAD$ 782,000 (about P29.5 million) and an addition of CAD$ 400,000 (about P15.2 million) to the existing CAD$ 17.8 million Sexual Health and Empowerment Philippines (SHE) project with Oxfam to ensure the unhampered provision of sexual and reproductive health services during COVID-19.
The embassy said the additional funding will support the core activities of the SHE project which aims to improve the quality, availability and uptake of health services of more than 85,000 women of reproductive ages as well as adolescent girls and boys in conflict- affected and disadvantaged regions in the country.
“This investment complements ongoing response activities, including the establishment of an emergency hotline for health services and gender-based violence, procurement of PPE for barangay health workers and distribution of family planning information materials,” the embassy said.
Aside from this, the embassy said the Philippines has been identified as one of the beneficiary-countries to receive COVID-19 diagnostic equipment, testing kits, reagents, and laboratory consummables as part of the CAD$5 million global project that Canada is funding through the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Canada is also supporting ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, by providing PPEs and capacity-building for the Philippine-led BioDiaspora Virtual Learning Center within the ASEAN Emergency Operations Center Network.