Cargo flight containing over 6 million medical items including face masks, test kits and protective suits and face shields arrived today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Supplies will first be distributed to countries throughout Africa which are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic
Addis Ababa and Hangzhou, 22nd March 2020 – Today, an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight loaded with a
large batch of medical supplies donated to Africa from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation
departed from Guangzhou, China and landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The flight carried 5.4 million face
masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective
face shields. The supplies will be transported on and distributed throughout the rest of the continent.
The remaining shipments of medical supplies are expected to reach Addis Ababa and be distributed to
more African nations over the next few weeks.
This relief initiative forms part of Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation’s ongoing efforts to contain
the spread of the COVID-19 and provide aid to afflicted communities across the globe. Earlier this week,
the foundations had announced their commitment to donating 100,000 medical masks, 20,000 test kits
and 1,000 protective suits and face shields to each of the 54 nations on the African continent.
Collaboration and partnership with the Alibaba-led Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) hubs in
Ethiopia and Rwanda has been important to this effort. The flight with the shipment landed at the eWTP
hub in Ethiopia, which will help facilitate transport and distribution of donations throughout the
continent. The donation was also made possible thanks to close cooperation with the Ethiopian
Government and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Ethiopian Airlines – whose actions have all
been crucial to enable a rapid response and delivery of these most-needed medical supplies.
“Getting these donations to all 54 African countries, with diverse geographic conditions and different
levels of infrastructure, is a great logistical and transportation challenge. We are working around the clock
to make the delivery as fast as possible. The faster we move, the earlier we can help,” said the Jack Ma
Foundation.
“Like so many other areas of life, the pandemic has brought about new challenges for the global
movement of goods. With our technology and eWTP Hubs, we are doing our utmost to quickly deliver
these donations, so the supplies can reach those who need them most,” added Juntao Song, Secretary
General of eWTP.
This donation is part of global efforts that the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations have promoted to support
the areas of the world most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, sourcing and delivering various types of
medical supplies to countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, United States, Italy, Belgium,
France, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia, as well as funding research and development of COVID-19
virus treatment options in China and at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Australia)
and Columbia University (USA). Further donations are expected to be announced over the coming days
and weeks.
The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation also supported the publication of a handbook with key
lessons and experience from doctors, healthcare workers and hospital administrators at the First Affiliated
Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU), who were on the frontline of COVID-19
treatment in China and crucial to slowing its spread. The handbook is available for global medical health professionals at https://covid-19.alibabacloud.com/.
