MAYOR BENG Climaco has thanked U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Heather Variava who visited Zamboanga and donated essential medical equipment from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that will help boost the city’s capacity to manage and mitigate the negative effects of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Climaco said the equipment was donated to the Zamboanga City Molecular
Laboratory in the village of San Roque.
The USAID has supported Zamboanga City’s pandemic response and
vaccination rollout since June 2020 and has deployed mobile vaccination teams,
composed of three emergency medical technicians and one information technology
(IT) staff to boost the city’s vaccination capabilities. In
addition, USAID deployed six consultants in major vaccination sites to support
data encoding and reporting.
In total, USAID provided a total of 19 health and IT personnel to
enhance Zamboanga City’s human resource capacity to fight Covid-19, according
to a separate statement from the U.S. Embassy.
“Combating the COVID-19 pandemic requires collective action. I am pleased that the enduring partnership between our two nations has fortified Zamboanga City’s pandemic response. In collaboration with national and local governments, the private sector, and other key stakeholders, the United States will continue to implement adaptive solutions to strengthen local communities in the Philippines,” said Variava, who thanked Climaco for supporting U.S. partnerships and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to security cooperation in Zamboanga.
Climaco also hosted a welcome lunch for the U.S. Embassy officials at City Hall. She and Variava exchanged tokens and discussed stronger bilateral ties and the various USAID projects and programs implemented in Zamboanga City.
They were joined by alumni from the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative
and Philippine Youth Leadership Program, who discussed activities undertaken by
the U.S. Government Alumni Association in Zamboanga City. (Zamboanga Post)
