Addis Ababa, March 17, 2020 (FBC) –Jack Ma, China’s richest man, has pledged to donate 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields to each one of the 54 African nations to help the fight against coronavirus.
In a statement issued yesterday, Ma said his Foundations will also start working with medical institutions in Africa to provide online training materials for coronavirus clinical treatment.
In total, 1.1 million testing kits, 6 million masks, and 60,000 protective suits and face shields will be delivered to Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has agreed to take the lead in managing the logistics and distribution of these supplies to other African countries.
“I want to express a big thank you to the Ethiopia government and Prime Minister Abiy,” he said.
In a phone talks last Sunday, the Prime Minister Abiy and Ma stressed the importance of ensuring coronavirus preparedness in Africa to mitigate its effect.
They agreed on ways of working together to halt the spread of COVID19 on the continent.
Prime Minister Abiy said “material support coupled with enhanced knowledge is key to COVID19 containment.”