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DCFHW Reinforces COVID-19 Pandemic Response Initiatives |
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The Dubai Council for the Future of Humanitarian Work, DCFHW, is continuing to enlarge the scope of its humanitarian initiatives aimed at reducing the effects of the coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic on individuals, families and communities around the world. During its recent meeting, the DCFHW presented various initiatives carried out by its member organisations, as well as its future plans to encourage humanitarian action aimed at containing the global implications of the pandemic. Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the DCFHW has been monitoring the national response and various international cooperation programmes aimed at countering the effects of COVID-19 on all sectors, which will strengthen the pioneering role of Dubai and the UAE in related local and global initiatives. The meeting, which took place via video conferencing, was chaired by Saeed Al Eter, Assistant Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, MBRGI, and President of the DCFHW, and was attended by Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares; Khalid Al Awadi, Deputy CEO of the International Humanitarian City; Ahmed Darwish Al Muhairi, Executive Director of the Charity Sector at the Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department; Dr. Manal Taryam, Executive Director of the Noor Dubai Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of the Primary Health Care Services Sector; Abdulsalam Al Madani, Chairman of Index Holding; Mousa Khoury, Head of Shari’a Management at Dubai Islamic Bank; and Dr Waleed Al Ali, Advisor at the MBRGI. The meeting was also attended remotely by Gerhard Putman, Permanent Observer of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva, and Director of the International Scientific Advisory Board at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development, DIHAD. During the meeting, Al Eter lauded the rapid local and international response of charity and humanitarian organisations in Dubai and the UAE to the COVID-19 pandemic, and commended the humanitarian programmes of the DCFHW’s member organisations, noting that they dispatched some 75 percent of the World Food Programme’s food aid to the most needy communities via Dubai. Putman also highlighted the UAE’s key global role and its support for international humanitarian efforts to reduce the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable segments of the community. Al Gurg pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the education sector around the world, forcing over 1.6 billion students in over 190 countries to stop attending school. In the UAE, Dubai Cares launched the "Education Interrupted" campaign, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, as well as the "Inspiring Humanitarian Initiative," he added. Al Awadi stressed that the International Humanitarian City was the international entity that responded most rapidly to the pandemic. Dr. Taryam noted that the Noor Dubai Foundation conducted its efforts effectively during the pandemic, especially its testing and diagnosis services in Nigeria and Senegal, saying that the cooperation between all sectors at local and federal levels supported both the local and global response. |
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