By Grace Kuria
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore has said that it is “very worried” about the current COVID-19 crisis in India and urged the world to send urgent help to the country.
CNBC reports that Fore also said it was a “race to save lives” through vaccinations, particularly in some of the world’s poorest countries with “very fragile” health systems. “It is worrying for several reasons. One, is it a precursor to what might happen in other countries, particularly countries in Africa, with much weaker healthcare systems?” Fore said last week.
“It’s worrying because their health care system has been overwhelmed. It is the need for oxygen and therapeutics that we just have not seen in this pandemic in another country at this scale.”
Fore said both UNICEF and the COVAX global vaccine program had sent help to the country, and aid from other nations was making a big difference.
“But it’s not enough because India is part of our supply chain. So, it is both where we source many of the vaccines, it’s also where we need to give help as a world to India now,” she added.
Other foreign donors like Germany, France, U.S., Belgium have already sent their emergency medical aid to the country which has as of now topped 20 million coronavirus cases.
(With input from CNBC)
