Uganda secures UGX 5 billion donation towards Covid-19 response plan

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda has received a five billion Shillings donation from Denmark to assist in the implementation of the Covid-19 resurgence response plan. The grant from Denmark will be managed by the World Health Organisation and used to support district coordination of the disease.

The money is also meant to strengthen national and district coordination of the Covid-19 response, Covid-19 detection, reporting, and response in the community schools and closed communities. The project will also support the strengthening of management of severe and critical Covid-19 cases.

State Minister for Health Hanifa Kawooya says that the money will go a long way in helping government respond to the disease. She says that the country needs a total of 1.3 Trillion Shillings to be able to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic for one year.

“The grant from the Danish government is going to be a great contributor to our efforts towards managing the outbreak and vaccinating our citizens. However, we need more support when it comes to acquiring vaccines to safeguard the lives of Ugandans,” she said.

While signing the grant, Henrik Jespersen, the Head of Cooperation at the Royal Danish Embassy in Kampala said he hoped the grant would help reduce infections and deaths related to the disease.

“We are optimistic that this additional financial support will contribute towards improved national and district coordination of Covid-19 responses and the lifesaving facilities will minimize avoidable Covid-19 infections and deaths”, Jespersen said.

The donation comes at a time when Uganda is about to hit the peak of the second wave. Scientists however warn that a third wave will most likely follow shortly afterwards and more funds will be needed to respond to the disease. The health ministry resurgence plan is supposed to guide the government’s response for a year.

The government is yet to release any funds but in light of the 5 billion Shilling donation, the government will still need over 800 billion Shillings to cater for coordination, surveillance, laboratory, case management, risk management, community engagements, continuity of essential services and vaccination.

For the first response plan, the government was supposed to contribute 747 billion Shillings of the 2 trillion Shillings of the preparedness plan. However, only 262 billion Shillings was contributed by the government.

*****

URN