Jakarta, June 19, 2020 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with financial support from China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, presented today 500,000 surgical masks to the Indonesian Government to help protect medical workers in their battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNDP Indonesia Resident Representative, Mr. Christophe Bahuet presented the masks during a handover ceremony to Mr. Febrian A. Ruddyard, Director General for Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Working in partnership is crucial in times of COVID-19 pandemic. For Indonesia, UNDP is a vital partner in accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals or the SDGs. The pandemic is a setback to SDGs gains, hence it is important to step up our cooperation to overcome these challenges starting from the immediate response towards recovery. The Government of Indonesia welcomes UNDP’s support in ensuring protection of Indonesia’s medical community,” said Mr. Kamapradipta Isnomo, Director for Socio-Cultural Affairs and International Organization of Developing Countries, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Bahuet said the mask donation is part of UNDP’s comprehensive support for Indonesia in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“UNDP stands with the people of Indonesia during this critical and perilous moment. We know that the pandemic has caused supply shortages of medical masks. These medical masks are part of UNDP response to COVID 19 in Indonesia. They will help protect frontline medical personnel in their battle against the COVID-19 virus, for which they deserve every one’s admiration and gratefulness.” said Mr. Bahuet.

The total value of the medical masks purchased by China Soong Ching Ling Foundation is CNY 1.2 million CNY (around IDR 2.6 billion or USD 183 thousand). The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia and the UNDP Office in China helped arrange the shipment of the medical masks.

The handover of the medical masks came several days after the arrival of the first shipment of ventilators procured by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The ventilator shipment is part of the joint effort by the three UN organizations to provide assistance to the Government of Indonesia in its response to COVID-19.

As of June 18 there were 43,762 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia, with 2,239 deaths. Cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 414 districts across all 34 Indonesian provinces.

###

Media Contact

UNDP Indonesia Communication Specialist, Tomi Soetjipto, suryo.tomi@undp.org