Mr. Abdulla Bin Damithan, DP World’s UAE Region and Jafza CEO and Managing Director, has welcomed UNICEF’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Mr. Ted Chaiban, to Dubai as part of its ongoing efforts to leverage DP World’s facilities, infrastructure, and expertise to deliver critical COVID-19 supplies to countries most in need.
In January, DP World and UNICEF announced a multi-year collaboration supporting UNICEF’s mission to distributecritical COVID-19 vaccines and supplies on behalf of the COVAX facility.
Through this partnership, the two entities are working together on advocacy and knowledge sharing to address logistical bottlenecks hindering access to essential supplies for children and their families.
UNICEF has begun to use DP World’s free zone facilities in Jabel Ali to optimize critical supply access for nations most under pressure from the pandemic.
The operation focuses on low- and lower-middle-income countries, where populations have been particularly badly struck and pharmaceutical transport and logistics are particularly challenging.
Mr. Damithan remarked that “we offer our infrastructure and expertise to support UNICEF in this effort because everyone should have access to vaccines, especially the most vulnerable members of society. I am confident that our combined expertise and extensive infrastructure will ensure vital supplies quickly get to where they are needed.”
Recently, DP World aided UNICEF with the delivery of essential supplies to India. This emergency shipment of critical supplies is just one of many operations with which Dubai’s logistics company supported a global agency.
Mr. Chaiban pointed out that “the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally impacted the health, education, and protection of children. Ensuring the equitable and affordable distribution of the vaccines across all countries will help bring normalcy to their lives.”
“The readiness of logistics infrastructure and services will be valuable as we hope more high-income countries will start to share their vaccine doses through the COVAX facility. The whole world will remain vulnerable to the virus unless we all work, through partnerships like this one, towards achieving equal levels of protection,” Mr. Chaiban added.
