The Danish Government, through their Embassy in has has, given a grant worth UGX5 billion to the Government of Uganda towards the implementation of the COVID-19 Resurgence Response Plan developed by the Ministry of Health.

The one-year project will support coordination of the COVID-19 response through: strengthening national and district coordination of the COVID-19 response, strengthening COVID-19 detection, reporting, and response in the community schools, and closed settings. In addition, the project will also support the strengthening management of severe and critical COVID-19 cases.

The grant will be managed by WHO but implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health and District Health COVID-19 Response teams.

The agreement signing yesterday was witnessed by the Minister of State in Charge of General Duties, Hanifa Kawooya who appreciated the Government of Denmark and WHO for the support to Uganda in the COVID-19 outbreak. 

“The grant from the Danish Government is going to be a great contributor to our efforts towards managing the outbreak and vaccinating our citizens”, she said as she implored development partners to support Uganda to acquire vaccines to safeguard the lives of Ugandans. 

The Head of Cooperation at the Danish Embassy in Kampala, Mr. Henrik Jespersen thanked WHO and the Ministry of Health who are the lead institutions in the COVID-19 response.

“We are optimistic that this additional financial support will contribute towards improved national and district coordination of COVID-19 responses and the lifesaving facilities will minimize avoidable COVID-19 infections and deaths”, said Henrik Jespersen.

WHO Representative in Uganda, Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam appreciated the Danish government for the financial contribution towards COVID-19 management and prevention in Uganda. He noted, “the support from the Danish Government is a much needed, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.”

“Partners like the Danish Government have been instrumental in disease outbreak responses, and we, yet again, recognize their immense support in the COVID-19 response. Coordination is a core part of any outbreak response and WHO, working with the Ministry will use this support to boost the already existing structures”, he added.

The grant adds to roughly UGX 9.3 billion, which was granted in April 2020 for the Emergency Response to COVID-19 outbreak in Uganda. 

The resurgence plan was developed by the Ministry of Health in line with global guidance and the WHO’s April 2020 COVID-19 Strategy Update and intends to provide a framework for a robust response to an acute and gradual but sustained rise in the number of cases, mitigate the risk associated with COVID-19 resurgence and to strengthen sustainable structures for emergency response in the country.