ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia. Sodbaatar Yangu, the Deputy Prime Minister held meeting with Tapan Mishra, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mongolia and Iliza Azyei, the Assistant Representative of UNFPA Mongolia at the Parliament House today. Kaori Ishikawa, the Head of Office of UNFPA Mongolia participated this meeting virtually as she is currently in Japan.

The Luxembourg Cooperation has recently granted 345,000 Euro which equals to 1.1 billion MNT to UNFPA to enhance maternity health services to respond to COVID-19 pandemic in Mongolia and to protect the safety and dignity of women and girls in the country. This fund is to support the country’s effort to respond, prepare and battle with the COVID-19 pandemic

As part of the support, UNFPA Mongolia handed over 2,490 dignity kits with a total cost of 237,663,000 MNT to the Ministry of Health and National Emergency Management Agency. Dignity kits that include essential hygiene and sanitation items will be distributed to women and girls including repatriated citizens and frontline workers who are staying in mandatory quarantine facilities. Iliza Azyei, the Assistant Representative of UNFPA Mongolia highlights some kits are specifically designed to meet the essential health needs of men and women with disabilities and their caregivers.

In partnership with the Ministry of Health of Mongolia, UNFPA will utilize this fund to strengthen the capacity of maternity service and support pregnant women, service providers of five provinces and four maternal hospitals of the capital. In particular, the maternity wards of the hospitals will be supplied with respiratory ventilators to provinces that have open border ports with China and Russia and public officers including health workers involved in the management of infected or suspected pregnant and postpartum women will be provided with personal protective equipment (PPE).

Kaori Ishikawa, the Head of UNFPA Mongolia Country Office highlights “We are witnessing how critical it is to have supplies of necessary protective equipment and ventilators when emergencies arise during this pandemic. With generous support from the Government of Luxembourg, hospitals that didn’t have adequate lifesaving equipment will have that medical equipment in the case there is community outbreak in Mongolia. Women do not stop getting pregnant or having babies when emergency strikes. This is why, we also need to ensure continuation of life saving maternal and child health services for women even in the time of the pandemic.”

The Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to UNFPA Mongolia’s support to the country’s COVID-19 response. He points out that one of the priorities of the country during this time is to protect the most vulnerable, especially children, women and girls, pregnant women and people with disabilities and ensure the continuity of the health care system. In addition, he highlights that Mongolia is specifically focusing on strengthening the health service, improving the working condition and ensuring essential equipment for health care workers in partnership with international partners.

Mongolia is one of the few countries in Asia Pacific region which has successfully contained the spread of local transmission with no death case. Yet, the country understands that importance of preparedness and allies with many international and national partners to respond to COVID-19 pandemic as it has limited capacity in terms of medical supplies, equipment, devices and personal protective equipment, and the health sector needs a tremendous amount of support at this stage.

For more information, please contact:

Ariunzul Gantulga, Media and Communication Consultant, UNFPA Mongolia, Email: gantulga@unfpa.org, Tel: (976) 11353503 ext 3315