Japan has committed to providing emergency support of 150 million dollars to Asian Development Bank (ADB) which is providing several targeted interventions to support its developing member countries (DMCs) in combating the effects of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The support will be through the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) and the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APDRF) to help DMCs strengthen their capacity to contain the spread of COVID-19.
"While ADB is collaborating with UN agencies and other development partners to provide rapid support to DMCs to quickly prepare for COVID-19, the funding from Japan will also help to strengthen country systems and ensure sustainability in the response to pandemics," said Director General of ADB's Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department Woochong Um.
"Strong health systems are needed to ensure robust disease surveillance, well trained and equipped health workforces, targeted evidence-based interventions, and sound clinical care," he said in a statement.
Following a 6.5 billion dollars initial package, ADB announced on April 13 to triple the size of its response by adding 13.5 billion dollars in resources to help its DMCs counter the severe macroeconomic and health impacts caused by COVID-19.
The 20 billion dollar package includes about 2.5 billion dollars in concessional and grant resources. Japan's contribution is on top of the package.
( With inputs from ANI )