France to provide funding to RITM, six other labs

April 30, 2020

France on Thursday said the Philippines' Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) will be among six other Southeast Asian frontline laboratories to get funding under  a €2-million ECOMORE II project through the French Development Agency (AFD).

The Embassy of France, in a statement, said the assistance would be used for the "reinforcement of equipment, purchase of diagnostic kits, acquisition of personal protective equipment, reinforcement in human resources, training and transfer of skills, deployment of mass testing complementing current molecular diagnosis, and support for data processing in partnership with France’s Institute for Research for Development (IRD) to strengthen the surveillance of the epidemic."

"Due to significant disparities in health systems both nationally and regionally, Southeast Asia is at high risk as Covid-19 continues to spread," the French Embassy said.

"Although only 755 cases were confirmed in the area in the first two months of the epidemic, a second wave of contagion began in mid-March, leading to more than 6,000 cases, suggesting that major challenges lie ahead."

ECOMORE stands for Economic Development, Ecosystem Modifications, and Emerging Infectious Diseases Risk Evaluation. Other recipient states are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. DMS