“No country in the world will ever be free from the grip of the terrible coronavirus if we don’t work together to fight in now in the poorest and most vulnerable places on our planet. We call on governments to please support the Covid-19 humanitarian plan,” in a social media post of UN Humanitarian.
In a virtual press briefing, Secretary-General António Guterres, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Lowcock, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Henrietta Fore, and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, launched a USD 2 billion coordinated global humanitarian response plan to combat Coronavirus Disease 2019.
“COVID-19 is menacing the whole of humanity – and so the whole of humanity must fight back. This is the moment to step up for the vulnerable”, states UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
With this, an interagency plan was organized by the UN’s Office of Coordination and Human Affairs (OCHA). The plan brings together appeals from WHO and UN partners to identify new needs. It will also arm humanitarian agencies with laboratory supplies for testing and medical equipment, if properly funded.
Moreover, the UN Chief stresses that failing to help vulnerable countries can place millions at risk. According to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Lowcock, the virus has already entered warzones – where people have no soap, water, or hospital beds.
“If we leave coronavirus to spread freely in these places, we would be placing millions at high risk, whole regions will be tipped into chaos and the virus will have the opportunity to circle back around the globe”, states UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Lowcock.
To further enable the plan, Lowcock released an additional USD 60 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, bringing total support of USD 75 million.
“The virus is now spreading in countries with weak health systems, including some which are already facing humanitarian crises. People and communities that are already uprooted due to conflict, displacement, the climate crisis or other disease outbreaks are the ones we must urgently prioritize. History will judge us on how we responded to the poorest communities in their darkest hour”, states World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Read more: Major Humanitarian Appeal to Keep Covid-19 from ‘Circling Back Around the Globe’.
