The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced approximately $7.5 million in humanitarian assistance for the flood-affected people of Sindh and Balochistan.
The Foundation has also repurposed its current grants to augment the government’s rescue and relief operations.
In a letter addressed to Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, President of Global Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Christopher Elias, conveyed that the Polio Program of the Foundation would also support 1,200 health camps being run by Aga Khan University in the worst flood-affected districts.
Furthermore, the Foundation would put more support towards three maternity hospitals dealing with the largest burden of displaced women-to expand midwifery care, and intrapartum services, the letter said.
Elias informed the Ambassador that the Foundation has an active $4 million grant for the poor that are getting food subsidies and emergency cash transfers in the flood-affected areas.
On behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he expressed his deepest sympathies over the losses due to the unprecedented flood.
“This is indeed a tragedy of national proportions and one which has captured the attention of the world,” wrote President Global Development of Bills and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Seeing the impact of the floods on Pakistani citizens, their homes, and their lands is greatly saddening,” he said
Ambassador Masood Khan thanked the Foundation for its generous support at a time when the people of Pakistan needed it most.
Elias commended the people of Pakistan for their courage under difficult circumstances and wished them as they move forward and rebuild their homes and lives.
Last month, Ambassador Masood Khan had written to Bill Gates, Co-Chair Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, apprising him of the huge devastation wreaked by the floods.
“These floods have been caused by climate change and extreme weather patterns,” observed the Ambassador.
He said that Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had played a pivotal role in supporting Pakistan in dealing with healthcare, human and humanitarian crises.
Recalling humanitarian assistance provided by the Foundation, the Ambassador stated that “We haven’t forgotten the Foundation’s generous donation of $700,000 during the 2010 floods.”
“As we are managing this catastrophe and working tirelessly to alleviate the sufferings, the people of Pakistan would deeply appreciate your support for urgent humanitarian assistance,” wrote the Ambassador.
