United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Representative in Liberia and Country Director, Ms. Karla Hershey says the UN food agency is in full readiness to assist the government and people of Liberia roll back the coronavirus attack.
She was speaking following the completion of the installation of a video conferencing system at the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL). NPHIL is the central coordination point of the Incident Management System (IMS) that is leading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
A statement quotes the WFP Country Representative as saying “the Emergency telecommunications (ETC) is instrumental in allowing for a consistent and reliable flow of information among partners to respond flexibly and concertedly to leave no one behind.
Hershey added that this is even more critical in the context of COVID-19, where ETC contributes to complying with social distancing measures and ensuring the safety of all stakeholders involved in the response.
The facility will limit the number of people present in the hall for meetings, in compliance with enhancing the social distancing requirements by the government, according the statement.
In addition to the video conferencing system, WFP is providing quality internet services at the Liberia Institute of Biomedical Research (LIBR) in Marshall, Margibi County where COVD-19 tests are taking place and nearing the completion of the construction of a mobile storage unit at LIBR.”
Since the outbreak of coronavirus in Liberia last week, WFP has been at the forefront of providing essential logistics, emergency telecommunications, and warehousing support to the government-led response.
In a related development, WFP says it is currently “pre-positioning over 1,700 metric tons of assorted food items in Nimba and Maryland Counties for distribution to students as take-home rations as part of the national home-grown school feeding program should the closure of schools last longer than expected.”