Japan pledges ¥100,000,000 to The Kingdom of Eswatini's fight against Covid-19

22 July 2020

The Embassy of Japan signed the Economic and Social Development Programme grant to strengthen the health and medical system of the Kingdom of Eswatini and contribute to the economic and social development of the country.

At present, the rapidly expanding rate of new coronavirus infections in various parts of the world are threatening not only human life, but the social and economic impact on people’s dignity and wellbeing is enormous. The pandemic is a perfect example of a human security crisis–a priority in the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference of African Development (TICAD) Agenda.

In  response to such a crisis, health systems should be strengthened to adequately respond to infectious diseases in both the medium and long term, in addition to placing emergency measures to protect  lives  and minimize social and economic  impacts. In particular,  in  order  to prevent the most vulnerable people from being left behind, an inclusive response based on the idea of human security focusing on individual protection and empowerment is important.

Based on this idea and the needs of the country, Japan will provide the Kingdom of Eswatini with a grant of E15,000,000(100,000,000JPY) towards the economic and social development of the country, as well as towards medical equipment such as defibrillators and blood gas analysers.

“The donation is a symbol of the friendship with the Kingdom of Eswatini, and support towards the fight against Covid-19. We are working together to overcome the pandemic and  committed to continue work with the government of the Kingdom of Eswatini to protect the most vulnerable.” said Norio Maruyama, Ambassador of Japan.

The donation comes at a time when the Kingdom of Eswatini has over 1000 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Embassy of Japan in South Africa