Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwama Kiminori has handed over Covid-19 testing kits to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) under the Stockpile Project supported by the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and funded by the Government of Japan and Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).

The government of Japan has provided the Bangladesh government, BDRCS, and IFRC with $1.8 million in assistance for the implementation of preparedness and response capacities for Covid-19 and other Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID).

This will be done through procuring, storing, and rapidly deploying critical medical resources necessary for public health emergencies in Bangladesh.

Under the project, titled “Strengthening Preparedness and Response to the Covid-19 and Other Emerging Infectious Diseases,” a total of 17,500 testing kits were handed over and at least 17,500 Bangladeshi people will be reached.

Ambassador Iwama expressed his hope that the support from the Government of Japan would improve the capacities of the health sector in Bangladesh.

“Even though the name of the project relates to Covid-19, this project will support as well the management of other diseases such as dengue and cholera in public hospitals. We are aiming that with the stockpile of necessary kit for those diseases, vulnerabilities of this country will be lessened,” said the ambassador.

Kazi Shofiqul Azam, secretary general of BDRCS, Alberto Bocanegra, head of delegation of IFRC, Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, additional director general (planning and development) of DGHS, and Prof Ahmedul Kabir, additional director general (admin) of DGHS were present among others at a ceremony held at the DGHS in the capital on Monday.

Japan has been providing vaccines since early July 2021 and has donated over 4.5 million doses. Japan has also established Covid-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan of up to 75 billion JPY since 2020 to strengthen health systems and support economic activities in developing countries.

Japan said it will promote international cooperation to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) based on its principle of “leaving no one‘s health behind” in the global fight against Covid-19, which has proven to be a threat to human security.