THE government of Canada provided 120,000 N95 respirator masks to the Department of Health (DOH) as part of its commitment to support Filipino frontline health-care workers’ efforts in combating the pandemic.
“Canada is collaborating closely with the government of the Philippines in the fight against the [coronavirus disease 2019] Covid-19,” Ambassador of Canada to the Philippines Peter MacArthur said during a handover event at the DOH Headquarters. “This includes regional cooperation with the [Asean] and its member-states, because only [by being] together can we defeat the virus.”
The masks were provided through a partnership between the government of Canada, the Asean Secretariat and the bloc’s member-states which aims to mitigate biological threats.
Since 2013, this partnership has been working on strengthening biological security, biological safety and disease surveillance capabilities in the region. It has produced significant results and has enhanced the capacity of Asean partners to prevent, detect and respond to all kinds of biological threats: natural, accidental, or deliberate in origin.
“Building on this long-standing partnership, Canada has provided additional support to Asean partners to combat the pandemic,” MacArthur explained. “This includes a CA$ 4.5 million [approximately P165 million] in-kind contribution of personal protective equipment [PPE] items to six Asean member-states—including the 120,000 masks for the Philippines.”
The N95 respirator masks donated locally are valued at CA$ 833,000 (estimated at P30.6 million) and are part of the CA$ 3 million (about P 110.3 million) in bilateral assistance the North American country has pledged to assist the Philippines in its battle versus Covid-19.
In addition, Canada previously announced the addition of CA$2.3 million (about P84.6 million) to increasingly important women’s health initiatives helping mitigate the impact of the contagion on maternal, newborn and child health as well as on women’s sexual, reproductive, health and rights. These are the Sexual Health and Empowerment Philippines project, or SHE, with Oxfam and in cooperation with the DOH; and the multi-country Enhance Mother/Newborn/Child Health in Remote Areas through Health Care and Community Engagement, or EMBRACE project, implemented by Adventist Development and Relief Agency Canada.
Further leveraging on multilateral institutions such as the Asean, Canada has also committed CA$5 million (approximately P183 million) to the International Atomic Energy Agency to support the provision of Covid-19 diagnostic kits, equipment and training in nuclear-derived detection techniques, to more than 20 countries that have requested assistance, including the Philippines.
“Canada is pleased with the progress we have made together in recent years to address some of the most serious threats to global health security [such as this one] posed by Covid-19 and other emerging infectious disease threats,” MacArthur explained. “For 43 years, [our country] has been an Asean partner supported by 12 diplomatic missions across the region—including our ambassador to [the bloc] and our Embassy here in Manila.
“The Philippines and Asean have been key partners in this regard, and we look forward to continued [and] close ‘win-win-win’ cooperation,” he concluded.
Image credits: Embassy of Canada