KOICA and UNFPA to provide COVID-19 Dignity Kits for Vietnamese Women

- KOICA raises a joint fund worth $140,000 together with UNFPA Vietnam, the Australian government’s DFAT, and the Embassy of Japan

- KOICA supplied Dignity Kits for 5,100 female workers in Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh provinces in Vietnam

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), together with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Vietnam, is planning to distribute Dignity Kits to COVID-19-affected regions in Vietnam to bolster the country’s response to the pandemic.

KOICA held a ceremony for the Dignity Kit donation worth $140,000 with UNFPA Vietnam at the Farmers Union in Hanoi, Vietnam, on June 22. Cho Han-deog, Country Director of KOICA office in Vietnam, and Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, attended the donation ceremony.

KOICA, the UNFPA Vietnam, the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and the Embassy of Japan are raising a joint fund worth $140,000, of which KOICA has committed $65,000. The donated Dignity Kits will be provided to 5,100 female workers in Vietnam’s northern provinces of Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh, which are suffering greatly from the fourth wave of COVID-19.

Vietnam reported 13,258 cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of June 21 due to the fourth wave of the pandemic. The virus is particularly fast-spreading across industrial parks in Vietnam’s northern provinces of Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh that are home to many manufacturing plants of South Korean companies such as Samsung. Consequently, workers in quarantine facilities in the industrial parks are struggling due to the factory shutdown and lockdown measures within the area, and female workers are facing significant hygiene problems due to the lack of sanitary products.

To this end, KOICA will provide Dignity Kits for underprivileged women in Vietnam, in line with the project of ‘Building a support model to respond and prevent violence against women and girls in Vietnam’.

A Dignity Kit refers to a set of humanitarian aid products that protects women’s reproductive health and basic rights, mitigates the risk of gender-based violence, and defends human dignity in a crisis. The kit includes more than twenty items such as sanitary pads, underwear, face masks, and a flashlight.

Naomi Kitahara, the UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, said, “we hope the Dignity Kits allow beneficiary women protect themselves and keep their dignity amid the global COVID-19 crisis.” She also mentioned that the organization will continue with its cooperative activities to respond to the pandemic in the future.

“The support is to strengthen the economic and social resilience of underprivileged women in the COVID-19-affected regions in Vietnam. Furthermore, KOICA will extend its collaborative efforts to support Vietnam’s recovery from the damage caused by the pandemic and boost the country’s capacity to manage infectious diseases in the mid-to-long term”, said Cho Han-deog, Country Director of the KOICA Vietnam office.

The support will be carried out as part of the South Korean government’s ABC Program, the initiative for building resilience against COVID-19 through development cooperation. In addition, the government is planning to provide 40 thermal imaging cameras to international airports in Vietnam, as well as 40 million syringes and safety boxes for COVID-19 vaccinations through KOICA enhance the capacity of the country’s health sector human resources. Such actions are expected to improve Vietnam’s economic and social resilience in the future.