UNICEF supplies US$5 million worth of hospital equipment and hygiene kits in support of China’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak

Beijing, 6 February 2023 – UNICEF China has been working with the Government at national and local levels to mobilize COVID-19 emergency support for the most vulnerable children and families in rural areas of central and western provinces of China. Local health systems in those rural areas have been under pressure from increased COVID-19 cases from early December 2022 through beginning of 2023.

More than US$5 million worth of hospital equipment and hygiene kits will aid the COVID-19 response. Seventy two sets of ventilators with air compressors, 72 oximeters, and 72 electrocardiograph (ECG) digital monitors have been sent to 18 counties in Guizhou, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces and the Tibet Autonomous Region. The caregivers of the 1.7 million children living in these provinces stand to benefit. These devices will contribute to health system strengthening and enhance the preparedness of local general hospitals and maternal and child health hospitals to manage their response to the COVID-19 cases.

UNICEF is also delivering 250,000 hygiene kits for girls and 250,000 kits for boys, who are among the most vulnerable in the communities. The children are either without parental care, including children left without one or both parents, living in kinship and foster care, and/or children in state child welfare homes across 10 provinces. 

“Our work has been focusing on the hardest to reach and most vulnerable children and women, before, during and after emergencies, to deliver a continuum of support to care-givers and to ensure the rights of every child, everywhere,“ said Amakobe Sande, UNICEF Representative to China.

The UN children’s agency is also working with its Government partner to strengthen risk communication and community engagement in rural areas, focusing on information for children and pregnant women on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and the importance of vaccines.