UAE providing timely help to the distressed

The UAE is doing a remarkable job where delivering food and essential supplies to the distressed and deprived is concerned. No matter which part of the world those suffering hail from.

Last year, the UAE sent an aid plane carrying six metric tonnes of medical supplies to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The aid will assist approximately 6,000 medical professionals as they work to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Or take Sudan for instance. The UAE provided $3.3b to Sudan over the past five years. In 2019, the UAE provided $1.5b through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development in addition to depositing $250 million in the Central Bank of Sudan.

As part of its response to the COVID-19, the UAE sent 100 metric tonnes of medical supplies, including PCR devices in addition to establishing a fully-equipped field hospital in East Darfur.

In addition to the development and economic recovery support, the UAE provided 533 tonnes of aid during the recent flood crisis that hit the country in addition to $7.7 million in emergency response to help the Sudanese government assist the Ethiopian refugees, who have crossed the border, fleeing clashes in the Tigray region.

A report in April last year said the UAE has carried approximately 10 tonnes of medical supplies to Italy to assist the country in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, benefiting over 10,000 healthcare professionals.

This initiative is part of the UAE’s commitment to cooperating with countries affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in order to bolster global efforts to curb the virus’ spread.

The recent Palestinian-Israeli conflict has seen untold devastation. Scores of houses have been reduced to rubble, many have been injured and yet many more have lost their lives. Apart from the air raid bombings, the only other sounds renting the air are screams of mourning and bereavement.

Through its humanitarian arm, the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), sent today 960 tonnes of urgent medical and food items to alleviate the humanitarian repercussions for about 20,000 families in the Gaza Strip. That’s almost a whopping million kilogrammes of food and medical supplies. Few would do that.

Implementing the directives of the Emirati leadership, the UAE sent 33 shipments through the Rafah Border Crossing, as part of the humanitarian and relief programmes for the Palestinian people.

The assistance comes at a time when a large segment of the population is suffering from dire humanitarian conditions, and a lack of necessary needs of food, medicine, clothing and basic construction materials.

Last January, 808 tonnes of urgent relief materials were sent through 29 trucks that entered through the Rafah border crossing as well, with a value of Dhs9 million, to support 10,000 families and provide the basic needs of Palestinians, to improve their living conditions.

Last year, the UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAE PAP) announced the annual results of the UAE Polio Vaccination Campaign carried out in Pakistan from 2014 to the end of 2020.

The campaign succeeded in providing 508,092,472 doses of the polio vaccine to over 86 million children in Pakistan over seven years.

The programme highlighted the fact that the campaign was implemented due to an initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed to eradicate polio around the world.

The Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation has sent urgent aid to those affected by floods in southern Pakistan.

Last year, the Khalifa Foundation’s relief team distributed supplies including medicines, tents, blankets and baby formula to some 75,000 people in the southern regions of Sindh.

All this goes to show that the UAE has always sought to provide all possible support to enhance the humanitarian response to help not just the Palestinians but those badly needing aid in other parts of the world as well.