ISLAMABAD: A Japanese international non-governmental organisation has provided Rs1.078 million emergency support and one-month food package along with sanitation kits to 165 deserving families in the villages of coronavirus-affected Haripur district.

The emergency support provided by the Kokkyo naki Kodomatchi (Children without Borders) is part of the relief assistance and goodwill gesture by the people of Japan to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan, said a news release issued by the Japanese embassy here on Monday.

The release said besides providing financial support to the vulnerable families in the targeted areas, the KnK had initiated a hygiene awareness campaign for village communities to sensitise them to the threat of Covid-19, and sanitised houses, roads and mosques.

It added that the INGO trained schoolchildren on how to better protect themselves from coronavirus like washing of hands regularly.

The release said the KnK also provided personal protective equipment and other necessary medical equipment through a local NGO, Friends Welfare Association, to three hospitals, where coronavirus patients were under treatment.

It added that health workers were fighting Covid-19 on the front line and fight against the pandemic without them could never be won.

The KnK has been supporting the vulnerable people in Pakistan since 2005. Its latest project is meant to promote girls education through improved learning environment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Japanese ambassador Matsuda Kuninori said the emergency support provided by the KnK was funded by personal donations from the people of Japan for the people of Pakistan in the current difficult time.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2020