KOTA KINABALU: WWF-Malaysia has partnered with MERCY Malaysia to donate RM150,000 in funds to support frontliners providing medical and health services during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Sabah.

The funds were used to purchase much-needed medical equipment such as the Respiratory Ebus Minipro for hospitals. This equipment, which is the first in Sabah, will help patients in the long run, especially those who suffer from Long Covid and other respiratory health issues.

Other than that, the donations were used to set up hand-washing kiosks in several schools and orphanages around Sabah to avert infection and raise awareness of the new norm among students and school staff.

According to WWF-Malaysia's Conservation Head in Sabah Dr Robecca Jumin, this initiative is part of the newly-established Social Development Unit under WWF-Malaysia’s Sabah Landscapes Programme to engage with, and encourage sustainable livelihoods for communities in Sabah.

“We believe working in collaboration with the local communities is the most effective, equitable and efficient way to restore the natural world that we all hold dear and depend on. Therefore our social development programme was set up to ensure seamless collaboration with local communities,” said Dr Robecca.

Social Development Manager, Anne Baltazar said the COVID-19 pandemic has substantially impacted communities in Sabah.

“During the initial lockdown, the region was in desperate need of emergency supplies. People were also suffering from food security, loss of income and unemployment as the lockdown has restricted movement and business activity. We hope that this small contribution will go a long way in helping ease the burden of our frontliners,” she explained.

Baltazar expressed hope that by donating handwashing kiosks to schools, students would be inspired to adhere to SOPs and break the chain of COVID-19. She added that people’s wellbeing is also contingent upon the health of the environment.

“We only have one Earth and it’s important that we protect it to the best of our ability. By taking care of nature, we are also taking care of ourselves. After all, we depend a lot on the environment for resources such as food, air and water,” she said.

MERCY Malaysia Acting Executive Director Zuraidah Mian said the collaboration with WWF-Malaysia helped enhance the capacity of her organisation’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan.

“We truly appreciate the support of WWF-Malaysia and recognise the impact of their generous contribution to the healthcare services, particularly in Sabah,” she said.

Zuraidah added that MERCY Malaysia remains focused on providing strategic medical and health intervention programmes to help reduce the spread of the pandemic, which has severely impacted Malaysia’s healthcare system.

As part of a longer-term green recovery process, WWF-Malaysia is also working on the development of a green and innovative livelihood initiative and is conducting an assessment of potential resilient livelihood activities that can be adopted and replicated elsewhere. This is being done with coastal and island communities in Semporna and Kudat and agroforestry interventions with communities that need support for landscape-level restoration by identifying places where lands have been degraded and forests fragmented.

In total, WWF-Malaysia through fundings from international company Beiersdorf donated RM1,227,549.10 as part of the COVID-19 relief under two objectives. They include the expansion and COVID-19 related adaptation of engagement with communities and workers; and introducing and encouraging sustainable livelihoods for coastal and island communities.