ADB approves USD 3 million grant to India to fight COVID-19 pandemic

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on July 29 announced that it has approved USD 3 million grant to India from its Asia Pacific Disaster Respond Fund. The bank has provided the grant to support India’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per the statement by ADB, the new grant will complement ADB’s ongoing support to the Indian government in strengthening its COVID-19 response.

The Multilateral Funding Agency has been continuously supporting India in its fight against the ongoing pandemic. The funding has been utilized in strengthening the Indian healthcare system by making it more efficient.

ADB’s $3 million grant from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund will further support India’s emergency response to the pandemic, improving surveillance, early detection, contact tracing, treatment, and other public health measures.

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— Asian Development Bank (@ADB_HQ) July 29, 2020

Significance:

The grant which has been financed by the Japanese government will be used to procure essential thermal scanners and essential commodities which will strengthen India’s COVID-19 response further.

As per the Asian Development Bank, the grant’s support will help India in enhancing disease surveillance and will help in early detection, treatment, and contact tracing. This will be further supplemented by the other public health measures.

ADB’s support to India to combat COVID-19:

On April 28, 2020, Asian Development Bank (ADB) had approved USD 1.5 billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) programme in order to support India in its pandemic response efforts. It included disease prevention and containment, as well as the social protection measures for the poor and economically vulnerable, especially women and disadvantaged groups.

The CARES program has been funded through COVID-19 Pandemic Response Option (CPRO) which is under ADB’s Counter-Cyclical Support Facility.  

CPRO was established as a part of the Asian Development Bank’s USD 20 billion expanded assistance for developing member countries' pandemic response, announced on April 13, 2020.