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The United Nations World Food Program (PMA) has launched a network of global logistics centers that will support the entire aid community and ensure the delivery of vital medical and humanitarian supplies to developing countries at a time when commercial air transport is virtually at a standstill.
“The window of opportunity to launch medical and humanitarian equipment to Africa to curb the pandemic is rapidly closing,” said Amer Daoudi, PMA’S COVID-19-19 Response Director. “Our global logistics support system is operational, and this delivery marks the first of many cargo shipments that we will fly to all corners of the world,” he added.
A PMAThe contracted Boeing 757 cargo flight departed from the newly established Global Humanitarian Response Center in Liege, Belgium on Thursday night with nearly 16 metric tons of medical cargo and personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves on behalf of UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) destined for Burkina Faso and Ghana. Part of this cargo will be moved to its final destination in the Republic of the Congo.
PMA is setting up the logistics backbone for global COVID-19-19 efforts, deploying a global system of air links to send vital humanitarian and medical cargoes and transport health workers to the front line of the pandemic. Global Humanitarian Response Centers located near where medical supplies are manufactured in Liege, Dubai, and China will link with regional centers in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malaysia, Panama, Dubai, and South Africa, where a fleet of smaller aircraft will be on standby to relocate. cargo and personnel to priority countries. The network is based on pre-existing UN humanitarian response repositories (UNHRD) – including Brindisi in Italy.
PMA It hopes to transport the equivalent of 37 Boeing 747 aircraft in the next six weeks from China and Malaysia to 130 countries around the world. Once the service is fully operational, up to 350 loads and another 350 passenger flights could fly each month.
Although this flight is the first of the new center in Liege, PMA has shipped more than 300 metric tons of humanitarian and medical cargo to 89 countries since late January, supporting governments and health partners in their response to COVID-19-19. These shipments include masks, gloves, fans, test kits, and thermometers.
Aid agencies and health authorities have been struggling to bring supplies to fragile environments. They are hampered by the collapse of global supply chains, the collapse of commercial air travel, the closure of borders, and shipping disruptions. PMAThe logistics network will close the gap in essential services, ensuring that humanitarian and health care services on the front lines of the pandemic can remain and provide vital assistance.
PMA It is also mounting a regional passenger air service to transport health and humanitarian workers in eastern and western Africa to overcome disruptions in commercial air services, with the first flights expected in the coming days. The service will soon expand to the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. PMA It is also ready to establish air links with Geneva and Rome if commercial services are interrupted.
In short, without our logistical support, the answer to COVID-19-19 in the world’s most fragile configuration would stutter, leaving millions at risk, “added Daoudi.
PMA requested an initial amount of US $ 350 million to launch global common logistics services, a call echoed by humanitarian partners in April, who highlighted the urgency of these vital PMA-The efforts
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of the World Food Program (PMA)
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