Egypt: ICRC donates vital protective equipment to health facilities in North Sinai amid COVID-19 crisis

30 July 2020
Egypt: ICRC donates vital protective equipment to health facilities in North Sinai amid COVID-19 crisis
Egyptian Red Crescent volunteers offloading the donations boxes by ICRC. ERC

CAIRO (ICRC / ERC): The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has donated essential personal protective equipment, worth more than 1 million Egyptian pound, to the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC), which has been slated for use in health facilities in North Sinai.

Minister of Social Solidarity and vice chairman of the ERC, Nevine Al-Kabbaj, expressed appreciation for the ICRC’s aid. “The ICRC has proven over the years that it is our lasting and trustworthy partner,” Al-Kabbaj said during a ceremony at the ERC headquarters in Cairo.

This is the second ICRC donation to the ERC since the onset of the coronavirus crisis. In May, the ICRC donated vital medical supplies that were directed to health facilities in North Sinai. It has also donated protective equipment to support the ERC’s efforts in the national response to COVID-19 in Egypt.

“Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the ICRC has continued to support the ERC and health facilities in their preventive and lifesaving efforts during the pandemic,” said Ronald Ofteringer, the head of the ICRC Cairo delegation.

The ceremony also saw the honoring of Ofteringer, the outgoing head of the ICRC Cairo delegation, who has concluded his three-and-a-half-year mission in Cairo. He will be succeeded by Jerome Fontana as the head of the ICRC Cairo delegation.

Al-Kabbaj praised Ofteringer’s tenure, during which the ICRC achieved much in the humanitarian field in Egypt, especially in providing relief assistance to vulnerable families in North Sinai, she said.

“We are looking forward to continuing our support and cooperation with the ERC in light of our fruitful partnership, which has enabled us to respond to the humanitarian needs in Egypt,” said Fontana, the incoming head of the ICRC Cairo’s delegation.

The ICRC and the ERC are part of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, which works on alleviating human suffering, especially during emergencies. In Egypt, the ERC and the ICRC are working together, bound by the principles of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, to provide humanitarian assistance to people in need without any distinction based on gender, religious or ethnic background, with the purpose of protecting human life and dignity.

The ICRC, in cooperation with the ERC, has carried out four assistance distributions to thousands of households in North Sinai to aid the families affected by the events there. The ICRC is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization, present in more than 90 countries around the world, including Egypt, where it has been working for over 100 years.

 

For further information, please contact:

Nesma Nowar, ICRC Cairo, tel: 0100 0708515

email: nnowar@icrc.org