France assists Mauritania with EUR 12.5 million in response to COVID-19

France has allocated financial aid of EUR 12.5 million to Mauritania to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement issued by its embassy in Nouakchott.

The first part of this aid is a donation of EUR 2.5 million to be used urgently to finance emergency action against the coronavirus and a restructuring project for the Mauritanian Ministry of Health.

The communiqué explained that this amount will contribute, on the one hand, to strengthening capacities for epidemiological surveillance, diagnosis and virological examinations and patient care, and on the other hand, to the purchase of health equipment.

Since the appearance of COVID-19 in Mauritania, with a population of four million last March, the country has recorded some 12,000 infections and 264 deaths.

The second wave, which would have started a month ago, is of particular concern to the authorities who have requested support from friendly countries and external partners.

The French Embassy's statement also reported additional funding of 10 million euros to set up a social safety net and cash transfer system to compensate for the lack of income of a large number of Mauritanians (210,000 beneficiary households).

It also cited an item of funding to train young people in Nouakchott in the manufacture of cloth masks and hand-washing devices.

The press release also announced the suspension of Mauritania's debt service for an amount of 5.3 million euros for the period from May 2020 to December of the same year.

Finally, it informed of France's contribution to a multilateral initiative of which Mauritania is a beneficiary, consisting of paying for a quantity of vaccines from which 20% of the country's population will benefit.