Personal Protective Equipment consisting of 50,000 KN95 facial masks and 20,000 protective masks donated by the Jack Ma Foundation arrived in Nadi, the Pacific Humanitarian Pathway on COVID-19, reported yesterday.

The first allocation of this essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is destined for Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, countries are currently battling COVID-19 outbreaks, to be distributed by the World Health Organisation.

The Pacific Humanitarian Pathway on COVID-19 (PHP-C) was established by the Pacific Islands Forum to ensure that required medical and humanitarian personnel and equipment can reach member countries. The donation of the PPE from the Jack Ma Foundation is the first time the PGP-C has been used.

Tonga

The PHP-C co-ordinated the delivery of the PPE from its origina in Shanghai, China to Nadi, Fiji, and will be handed over to the regional office of WHO. Some 45% of the supplies are destined for Papua New Guinea and 10% each for New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Fiji. The remaining PPE will be distributed to other Pacific Islands Forum countries, including Tonga.

“This Personal Protective Equipment is just the first delivery facilitated by the PHP-C. We will continue to work with and respond to requests for support from Member countries to combat COVID-19, together with our partners including the Pacific Community, WHO, UN, Forum Dialogue Partners, Pacific private sector and civil society. We are all in this together,” said the Secretary General of the  Pacific Islands Forum, Dame Meg Taylor.

The 18 leaders of the PIF have recognised COVID-19 as a major crisis and invoked the Biketawa Decaration to collectively respond to COVID-19 as one Blue Pacific family. (The Biketawa Declaration is a declaration agreed to by all the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum constituting a framework for coordinating response to regional crises. The declaration was agreed to at the 31st Summit of Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, held at Kiribati in October 2000.)

The Jack Ma Foundation was founded by the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma on December 15, 2014. The JMF focuses on four areas; Entrepreneurship, education, women’s leadership, medical support and environmental protection.