Palestine Economy Portal.

The WHO released its report on the shortage of PPE and called for a global increase of production by 40% to meet the high demand, warning of the “severe and mounting” disruption to the global supply of (PPE), as a result of the extreme demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse, is now putting lives at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases.

The WHO stated that Healthcare workers rely on personal protective equipment to protect themselves and their patients from being infected and infecting others. And issued an interim guidance on the rational use of PPE for the COVID-19 virus. Including preventive measures for the disease.

The guidance clearly states that the use of Personal Protective equipment should be confined to people with respiratory symptoms or people caring for COVID- 19 patients. The WHO recommends asymptotic individuals and general public not to use PPE as this may cause unnecessary cost and a procurement burden and create a false sense of security that can lead to the neglect of other essential preventive measures.

The global Shortage of PPE is leaving doctors, nurses and other frontline workers dangerously ill-equipped to care for COVID-19 patients, due to limited access to supplies such as gloves, medical masks, respirators, goggles, face shields, gowns, and aprons.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that “Without secure supply chains, the risk to healthcare workers around the world is real. Industry and governments must act quickly to boost supply, ease export restrictions and put measures in place to stop speculation and hoarding. We can’t stop COVID-19 without protecting health workers first,” Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, prices have surged. Surgical masks have seen a sixfold increase, N95 respirators have trebled and gowns have doubled.

The WHO also called Governments to develop incentives for industry to ramp up production. This includes easing restrictions on the export and distribution of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies. 

It is worth noting that the European Union is supporting the Global production of PPE and research for fighting COVID-19.