WHO provides Kurdistan Region with $100k in COVID-19 testing tools
The donated supplies include over 9,000 testing kits along with more than 9,000 viral transport media – a nutrient substance that helps the maintain the viability of coronavirus until it reaches a lab, according to a tweet from the international health organization.
The aid is worth $100,000, funded by the Gulf country of Kuwait, the WHO said.
This is not the first time the international health organization has provided the Region with tools to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
In mid-February, the WHO provided the Region with 13 tons of medical supplies and equipment worth one million dollars.
In the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, the organization gave the Kurdistan Region other necessary testing tools and critical protective equipment, known as PPE, which was in short supply at the time. In August, the WHO donated six ambulances to the Region, increasing local authorities’ capacity to provide critical services to the community, particularly refugees.
The WHO opened its office in the Kurdistan Region in August.
“As WHO, the Kurdistan Region is important for us and we want a better health situation even after the pandemic,” Adham Ismail, then the WHO director in Iraq, said at the time.
The office works with the Kurdistan Regional Government Health Ministry to provide health information for the Region.
Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly
