By P .Vangerline Kpotoe
MONROVIA, June 27 (LINA) – The Government of Japan has provided a
grant to Liberia to extend emergency aid in the COVID-19 response as
well as improve the Cold Chain system in the country.
Speaking at the launch of the two projects, the Ambassador of Japan
Himeno Tsutomu said health and nutrition are keys to human security
and as such the people of Japan are pleased to launch the projects
that will strengthen the delivery of routine health services in health
facilities, communities during COVID-19 and improving cold chain
management worth US$2,499,900:00.
The Ambassador pointed out that these two programs funding are part of
Japan’s support to the Government of Liberia’s efforts to manage the
COVID-19 pandemic through partnership with United Nations Children’s
Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
Amb. Tsutomu states that the projects seek to strengthen routine
health services in health facilities and communities, which will be
implemented by UNICEF in Montserrado and Margibi Counties and will
benefit over 43,000 children and 12,000 pregnant women in over 150
communities.
“While improving the cold chain program will equip 190 health
facilities with cold chain equipment and train 245 technicians and
health workers to provide services for over 400,000 beneficiaries,” he
pointed out.
He noted that since 2020 the Government of Japan has provided UNICEF
with a total of US$ 2.7 million to support the critical delivery
services to the women and children in Liberia.
The Japanese Ambassador emphasized that the Government of Japan’s main
thematic priorities have remained EPI/Polio, Cold Chain system
strengthening, provision of Health, WASH, Nutrition and Birth
registration services to the most vulnerable population in the
country.
Also speaking, the UNICEF representative to Liberia, Laila Gad said
UNICEF will continue to work closely with the Government of Liberia,
UN agencies and partners, to ensure the health system in the country
is well equipped and health workers are well trained to respond
appropriately to the threats of COVID-19.
She said with the Japanese funding, UNICEF will continue its support
to the Government of Liberia in its efforts to combat COVID-19 through
the provision of cold chain equipment, strengthening the health system
and building the capacities of the service providers.
She intoned that the leadership the Ministry of Health has provided as
enable them to reach not less than 50,000 children under 5 years to
access basic health services and also in collaboration with the County
Health Teams through which “we have been able to work together to
conduct an assessment of over 600 health facilities to identify what
the cold chain equipment means to the country.
“We hope that through continuing this partnership we will be able not
to only mitigate the end of corona virus, but other health pandemic,
but this will contribute to strengthening the health system in
Liberia,” she added.
For her part, the Minister of Health, Dr. Willemina Jallah applauded
the Japanese government for this milestone contribution, adding, “This
cold chain will help us to integrate many projects in the health
sector.”
“We know that this partnership will continue because COVID-19 is
having a devastating impact on the health sector and the delivery of
essential public health services in Liberia,” Min. Jallah explained.
She stated that with a 40 percent overall decline in health facility
utilization, thereby impacting access to critical services such as
immunization, birth registration and nutrition, which are all provided
within health facilities, and support being provided by Japan is” very
timely, and will go a long way to support the ongoing COVID-19
response as well as strengthen the resilience of the health system.”
