Japan today announced that it has decided to extend Emergency Grant Aid of approximately $41 million to Southeast and Southwest Asian and Pacific Island countries that suffer from the impact of Novel Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19).

This assistance will provide 25 countries in the Southeast and Southwest Asian and Pacific Island region with cold chain equipment including medical equipment such as cold-storage facilities and transportation, as 'last one mile support' to ensure vaccination in each country, through the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

Currently, ensuring equitable access and swift distribution of vaccines is the common challenge for the international community towards the goal of containing Covid-19. Japan has been contributing to formulating the Covax Facility, an international mechanism to ensure and accelerate equitable access to vaccines regardless income level, and has announced its financial contribution of 200 million US dollars in total. This Emergency Grant Aid is aimed at delivering vaccines to each and every person in the all corners of developing countries, which will complement efforts of the Covax Facility.

Recipient countries:

Southeast Asia (10 countries): Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam

Southwest Asia (5 countries): Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Pacific Island region (10 countries): Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu