US ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller and his team on Monday provided personal protective equipment (PPE) to inspector general prisons brigadier general AKM Mustafa Kamal Pasha as part of continued US support for Bangladesh's COVID-19 response efforts, reports UNB.
This is the sixth in a series of planned PPE distributions from the United States to Bangladesh.
The United States, through multiple agencies, including the US departments of state, defense, and agriculture; USAID; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has so far provided over $56.5 million in aid to combat COVID-19 in Bangladesh.
The US embassy-donated equipment delivered on Monday included 10,000 reusable cloth masks, 200 full hazardous materials suits, 50 KN95 surgical masks, 660 200-milliliter bottles of hand sanitizer, 11,000 pairs of surgical gloves, 25 Kg of powdered bleach, 2 disinfectant backpack sprayers, 100 face shields, and 10 infrared thermometers, all of which the United States purchased locally from Bangladeshi companies.
The Bangladesh Prison Directorate is a critical partner in safeguarding a vulnerable population against COVID-19 and in Bangladesh's COVID-19 response, as the directorate supports the public and Ministry of Health (MoH) initiatives throughout the country.
This PPE donation helps ensure corrections officers remain protected while they promote the safety and security of all people living in Bangladesh, said the US embassy in Dhaka.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the US government, through the US state department and USAID alone, has committed more than $1.6 billion worldwide in emergency health, humanitarian, economic, and development assistance specifically aimed at helping governments, international organizations, and NGOs fight the pandemic.