The Philippines stands to benefit from a second round of grant from the European Union amounting to P170 million, or about 2.3 million euros, for a program that will strengthen the resiliency of local health systems for future health-related outbreaks.
“The grant is already signed, the money is in the country. The 2.3 million euros cover a six-month period starting from January this year. And we are looking forward to seeing how best we can strategically support the DOH [Department of Health] based on evolving needs,” said World Health Organization representative to the Philippines Rabindra Abeyashinghe.
He said the new grant would not supplement the first grant used to procure COVID-19 vaccines but would be used for capacity-building and creating a far more effective contact tracing process to curb the pandemic.
“This grant will help strengthen diagnostic capacity, epidemiological surveillance, contact tracing and management, improving clinical management outcomes, appropriate risk communications, and of course, facilitating equitable vaccine and develop vaccine distribution across the country.
