Mumbai, India (CU) _ The World Bank announced that Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal would receive funding to vaccinate their populations against Covid-19. In an attempt to support the poor countries of Asia to battle against the pandemic, World Bank has taken this initiative. According to the reports, Afghanistan will be given $113 million, with $60 million coming from the International Development Association (IDA), a development lender based in Washington that aids the poor countries of the world with secure and effective Covid-19 vaccines.
Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan appreciated the additional fund support of World Bank and their continued support to Afghanistan. He said, “The World Bank has worked closely with the Afghan government and development partners to respond effectively to Covid-19, improve testing and treatment, and strengthen the country’s health system”. He added, “This additional financing is a major step forward to provide timely and equitable access to vaccines to millions of Afghans.”
According to the lender, the funding package aims to vaccinate around 17 percent of Afghan population and will help the country with further support to recover from the pandemic. The World Bank has allotted $500 million fund aid for Bangladesh and $75 million for Nepal through the International Development Association.
A statement released by the World Bank said that apart from the fund aids, other initiatives such as technical support and knowledge sharing will also be provided to the Asian countries. The statement said, “In addition to financing, the Bank is providing technical assistance and knowledge-sharing workshops for countries in South Asia on different aspects of designing and deploying fair and equitable vaccine strategies,” the statement said.
According to the reports, by gross domestic product – GDP per capita, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are among Asia’s poorest countries. Hence, these countries will be given first preference for the World Bank funding and other technical assistance regarding the pandemic. The World Bank had allocated a total of $12 billion to the developing countries for the procurement and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.
