To help address urgent healthcare needs in India following the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ericsson has donated $9,71,567 to Unicef.

Ericsson employees from more than 95 countries have donated towards this Unicef initiative as part of a month-long company-matching-employee-donation that was launched globally in May. In addition, Ericsson has also made an upfront donation to Unicef for this initiative, the company said in a statement.

Ericsson’s donation will go towards providing critical medical supplies and equipment in India. This includes, increasing the number of RT-PCR testing machines to boost identification of new Covid-19 cases and providing oxygen generation plants and procuring other critical supplies for health facilities.

“India is a very important market for Ericsson and a large number of our global employee base is located there. Many Ericsson colleagues around the globe asked how they could support India during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Heather Johnson, Vice-President for Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility for Ericsson, said.

“Unicef is our longstanding partner and we decided to join forces to launch this donation campaign. The funds will go towards supplying medical equipment through Unicef and will help in early detection and Covid-19 treatment and provide much needed relief to the severely affected people in India,” she added.

UNICEF India has 13 field offices and works to provide assistance and technical expertise across health, nutrition, water and sanitation, disaster risk reduction, education and child protection.

Ericsson, through its local Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility partners, began supporting initiatives in 2020 such as collecting Covid-19 test samples for testing at designated government labs in Chennai and Pune, and donating Personal Protection Equipment to hospitals and sanitation workers.

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