The world is facing a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other protective equipment in the fight against a spreading coronavirus epidemic, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.
The world is facing a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE) in the fight against a spreading coronavirus epidemic, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.
The UN agency has been sending testing kits, masks, gloves, respirators and gowns to every region, Tedros told the WHO executive board in Geneva.
“This afternoon I will be speaking to the pandemic supply chain network to identify the bottlenecks and find solutions and push [for] fairness in distribution of equipment,” he said.
Tedros said demand is up — and so are prices.
The leader of the WHO said he spoke to manufacturers, distributors and logistics providers to make sure that supplies like N95 masks get to the health-care workers who need them.
“There is limited stock of PPE and we need to make sure we get it to the people who need it most in the places that need it most,” he said. The first priority is health-care workers, he said, followed by people who are sick and caregivers.
“We all have a part to play in keeping each other safe,” he told reporters who gathered for the daily briefing in Geneva.
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