​Swedfund supports with protective equipment in sub-Saharan Africa

In order to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in developing countries, emergency preparedness needs to be much better. Therefore, based on long experience of sustainable investments in Africa, Swedfund is turning to the companies that it has invested in to too see how it best can assist during the Corona pandemic. Several clinics and hospitals have already received support. Now support is also going to a cancer clinic in Ghana as well as a healthcare facility in Liberia. At the top of the priority is protective masks, education and the possibility to separate people who are infected with Covid-19 from other patients and healthcare workers.

Swedfund supports both Sweden Ghana Medical Center (SGMC) and the healthcare facility Snapper Hill Clinic, in Liberia, with capacity-building efforts as a result of Covid-19 pandemic with a total of 1.3 million SEK. Snapper Hill Clinic is a healthcare facility located in central Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. The facility provides care to approximately 30,000 patients annually. Sweden Ghana Medical centre is a cancer clinic in Ghana that continues to treat cancer patients despite the Corona pandemic.

- As a development finance institution we have tools that enables us to quickly support the most urgent needs of these clinics and healthcare institutions so that they can handle the Covid-19 pandemic in the best possible way, which feels very important and urgent, says Maria Håkansson CEO Swedfund.

At the beginning of April, Swedfund granted approximately 1.3 million SEK to Addis Cardiac Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The financial support went to the purchase of protective equipment as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and to the design of temporary emergency facilities to separate Corona-infected patients from other patients. Addis Cardiac Hospital is the first specialized cardiac hospital in Ethiopia.

As a development finance institution, Swedfund, together with other European development finance institutions, creates millions of jobs in developing countries. Here, constant investments are made in renewable energy, health and financial institutions, which in turn generate jobs for a large number of men and women. In the absence of crisis packages, a job is now more important than ever as it provides support.