A leading manufacturer of medical and life sciences equipment, Getinge, has joined IFC’s Africa Medical Equipment Facility, an initiative designed to help healthcare providers in sub-Saharan Africa have better access to life-saving equipment and supplies, IFC announced.
Sweden-headquartered Getinge’s participation in the IFC-led facility will expand opportunities for medical clinics and hospitals in Africa to obtain and service medical equipment, including devices that assist surgeons during lung and heart surgery, machines used to administer anesthesia, ventilators, and other critical devices needed during surgeries and in intensive care.
“We’re proud to participate in an initiative that helps patients by ensuring the supply of critical medical equipment where it’s urgently needed,” said Sebastien Blanche, Global Head of Getinge Financial Services. “In this joint effort, we will not only make the devices more affordable, but also help build sustainable service plans for their continued use.”
Getinge Partners with IFC to Bolster Supplies of Life-saving Equipment Across Africa
Amid growing famine risk in Somalia, un humanitarian visit in Galkayo highlights dire conditions of displaced Somalis
On a visit to the city of Galkayo in northern Somalia, top United Nations humanitarian officials heard first-hand of the dire conditions that local communities of internally displaced people (IDPs) are enduring amid the severe drought affecting the country – with the visit also providing extra motivation to do more to help those in need as the risk of famine in Somalia grows.
“It gave me the firsthand testimony that I need to provide to our donors and to let them know that it is not a fictional thing to talk about the 1.4 million malnourished children – 330,000 of whom are at risk of dying by the end of this summer if we don’t step up our engagement and provide them with the support they need,” the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said after visiting two IDP camps in the city’s north.
Afreximbank launches $4 bln Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme
The Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved the launch of the Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa (UKAFPA), a programme of credit facilities that the Bank has developed to manage the impacts of the Ukraine crisis on African economies and businesses. The programme amounts to US$ 4 billion.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis which escalated on 24 February 2022 has had a significant effect on the global economy. Given the importance of both Russia and Ukraine as sources of crude oil and gas, raw materials and grains, the outbreak of the conflict has wider repercussions on a global scale, including adversely affecting African economies, especially those that rely heavily on grain, fertilizer and fuel imports.
Since its establishment, Afreximbank has built a track record and earned a reputation for introducing and implementing various emergency intervention programmes, with embedded strong risk mitigations to respond to various crises on a global scale and impacting Africa. Recent examples include the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) through which Afreximbank disbursed over US$7 billion in support of African economies in their fight against the Covid 19 pandemic.
Crisis in Ukraine, agricultural machinery must ‘work as a system’
The fourth edition of the FederUnacoma Think Tank dedicated to the geopolitical emergency and the commodity crisis took place on 31 March in Bologna. The commodity crisis could last for years, so it is necessary for agro-mechanical companies to develop long-term strategies, while being reactive to sudden situational changes. Proposals were made by thematic study groups.
The international landscape presents many factors of instability that require agricultural machinery companies to adopt more flexible strategies than ever before. This is what emerged from the work of the fourth edition of the FederUnacoma Think Tank, which was held on 31 March in the evocative setting of the Dall’Ara Stadium in Bologna and which dealt with topics relating to the current geopolitical crisis and the raw materials emergency.
