Manila, Philippines, 27 March 2020 – Today, the first batch of donation to the Philippines by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation was received by the Department of Health.
This shipment is part of the donation to four Southeast Asian countries that includes Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia announced on March 19. The four nations will receive a combined total of 2 million face masks, testing kits for 150,000 people, 20,000 protective suits and 20,000 face shields.
“The arrival of the first batch of donations underscores the generosity of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation and their genuine desire to help developing countries like the Philippines fight the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives worldwide and battered the global economy,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.
Secretary Dominguez added that the donations will “certainly boost efforts of the government and the private sector in the Philippines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.”
“We hope the donations will help the Philippines to protect against COVID-19. We are doing all that we can to help the global fight, racing against time and overcoming logistical challenges to deliver essential medical supplies,” said the Jack Ma Foundation. “The second batch of medical supplies are expected to arrive in Manila in the next week.”
This donation is among a number of aid initiatives from the Alibaba Foundation and Jack Ma Foundation to support the areas of the world most affected by the Covid-19 crisis, sourcing and delivering various types of medical supplies to China, South East Asia, United States, Africa, Italy, Belgium, France, Slovenia, Spain, Germany and Latin America. The Foundations are also 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 soon.
The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation have published and distributed a handbook detailing learnings and best practices from the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, for treating COVID-19 patients: https://covid-19.alibabacloud.com/
Follow @JackMa and @foundation_ma on Twitter for the latest efforts of Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation to support the global fight against COVID-19.
