The Diplomat
The Spanish Cooperation has donated biosecurity equipment to Bolivia to help Bolivian authorities curb the spread of COVID-19.
As reported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the aid responds to an international appeal for help made by the Bolivian Ministry of Health and Sports at the end of January 2021 and the shipment, which arrived in La Paz last Friday, consists of around 10. 000 chemical and biological protection gowns, 22,580 self-filtering masks for FFP2 particles, 59,000 nitrile gloves, 3,190 panoramic protective goggles, 424,000 three-layer surgical masks and 1,500 disposable nursing caps.
This initiative involves a total cost of 280,000 euros and is part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, Team Europe, which finances 75% of the transport of humanitarian cargo from the Member States. The operation was also supported by the airline Boliviana de Aviación (BOA), which since March 7 has been in charge of transporting the equipment on several flights, thus helping to reduce transport costs considerably in comparison with the rates on the aviation market.
The act of donation of the material to the Bolivian authorities took place last March 12 in the presence of the Chancellor of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Rogelio Mayta Mayta; the Ambassador of Spain, Javier Gassó Matoses; the Ambassador of the European Union, Michael Dóczy; the AECID coordinator, Juan Pita; and the head of the AECID Health Program, Mar Humberto.
“The arrival of these emergency supplies complements the cooperation between Spain and Bolivia to confront the COVID-19 pandemic and which includes a broad training program for medical specialties already underway, as well as training processes for COVID management, in which high-level professionals from Spain and Bolivia participate” said the AECID. “Spain, in its commitment to the right to health and the fight against the pandemic, toge,ther with other countries, is part of the global initiative for access to vaccines against COVID-19, COVAX, for equitable global access to vaccines, of which Bolivia will be a beneficiary”, it concluded.
