Swiss raise over CHF4 million for Covid-19 victims in developing countries

For people living in refugee camps, slums, war zones or extremely impoverished countries, living conditions have deteriorated so dramatically due to the Covid-19 pandemic that the need for our help has never been so urgent, says the Solidarity Chain. Keystone / Dimitris Tosidis

A national fundraising campaign supported by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) has raised more than CHF4 million for victims of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide.

A total of CHF4,016,886 was collected on October 22 for the humanitarian charity Swiss SolidarityExternal link in collaboration with the SBC.

“Although Switzerland itself is affected by the crisis and many people are in need, the population has shown great generosity,” it said in a statement.

It aims to help partner organisations around the world alleviate the impact of the coronavirus crisis for people living in refugee camps, slums, war zones or extremely impoverished countries.

Swiss Solidarity organised the solidarity day in partnership with 18 other organisations. It has selected 15 particularly fragile countries in which it will finance projects as a priority, such as Afghanistan, Honduras and Lebanon.

“In particularly fragile countries, this crisis often has dramatic consequences by increasing social inequality and poverty,” declared Simonetta Sommaruga, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, at the launch of the 16-hour fundraising campaign. “The coronavirus pandemic needs our solidarity – also across borders.”

About 100 million people in developing countries risk becoming victims of extreme poverty, according to a report by the World Bank.

Insufficient

In July the charity released CHF2 million ($2.2 million) from its emergency aid funds to its partner relief organisations. They ran information and prevention campaigns in Bangladesh, Tanzania, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Myanmar and Mozambique.

However, funding is far from sufficient, according to Swiss Solidarity.

Set up more than 70 years ago, Swiss Solidarity is the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, swissinfo.ch’s parent company.