The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the decision of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) to allocate 315,000 euros in emergency humanitarian aid to the population of Bolivia following the declaration of an emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The humanitarian aid is being provided through a transfer of funds to the Humanitarian Action Office for the purchase of personal protective equipment in Spain, as well as logistical expenses, including air transport from Madrid to La Paz on several commercial flights (the first of which took place on 7 March).
The Executive specifies that at the end of January 2021, the Government of Bolivia alerted the international community to the serious epidemiological situation of COVID-19 and the consequent saturation of health services, evidenced by a shortage of medicines, personal protective equipment and health equipment in general.
It therefore requested assistance from the international community through the European Civil Protection Mechanism and bilaterally from Spain, with specific indications of the most urgent needs to be covered as a result of the pandemic.
According to the government, Bolivia was at a disadvantage compared to its neighbouring countries due to its low level of development and specifically due to its lack of health services and health personnel, which had a direct impact on the percentage of deaths caused by the pandemic (according to Johns Hopkins University, the country is among the ten worst in the world and the third worst in the Americas, with a mortality rate of 88 percent in hospital Intensive Care Units at the end of February 2021).
