As a multi-stakeholder facility, Post4Health provides a flexible platform for donors to increase synergies and have a greater impact. In order to operate, Post4Health relies on voluntary funding from governments, national Posts, the private sector and development partners.
La Poste Group (France) is the first sponsor to the Post4Health Facility with a total pledged amount of 100,000 USD.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of Japan (MIC) announces a 300 000 USD support to Post4health. For the full statement click here.
No one is safe until everyone is safe. With over three billion people living in rural or isolated areas, the successful delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine is arguably the greatest logistical challenge ever faced by humankind. The Universal Postal Union’s Post4Health facility aims to catalyze the capacity of postal operators to deliver health products, policies and services to people everywhere. In doing so, it will leverage access to one of the world’s biggest networks, spanning 192 countries, 650,000 postal facilities and more than five million employees.
As the UN organization responsible for the postal sector, the UPU leads the way to strengthen Posts' value proposition in delivering health policies, products and services with Post4Health.
The pandemic has highlighted the support that postal operators can give to communities, national economies and public authorities in uncertain times, making the Post an essential service during lockdowns. Aside from core services, operators have once again proven the postal network’s value as a key infrastructure by delivering a full range of new social and economic services, including health-related services such as distribution of tests, personal protection equipment and medicines. With COVID-19 vaccine campaigns being rolled out, Posts are well placed to directly contribute to the success of those campaigns by providing delivery solutions for the vaccines where possible, along with the medical equipment and supplies needed for the vaccination process.
There is a protracted global logistics challenge in the early stages of vaccine deployment and delivery, owing to specific ultra-cold chain supply chain constraints. However, as different varieties of vaccines are developed, with different levels of cold chain requirements, there will be a rapid need to scale up worldwide delivery.
The most urgent global objective of the UPU Post4Health initiative is to leverage and mobilize the postal network for the last-mile delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and of related medical equipment and materials, wherever possible and feasible, and also for advocacy and information campaigns.
Through Post4Health, the UPU will work with governments, national and global health authorities, and postal operators, form partnerships (see the UN COVID-19 response section) and create and operate a unique, advantageous ecosystem to not only help deliver responses to the current pandemic, but also provide broader health services through the Post.
Post4Health is a multi-donor facility operating through extrabudgetary contributions received from UPU member countries and their designated operators (see Donor News).
Post4Health is based on a two-pillar approach to address immediate needs (COVID-19 vaccine) and strengthen public health systems in the longer term.
As countries start to implement their COVID-19 vaccination programmes, Posts are offering direct support to governments in a variety of practical and creative ways. Examples include the last-mile delivery of vaccines, and use of mail carriers to register members of the public for vaccination appointments. Posts are also offering new or modified services in response to the broader social, financial and trade impacts of the pandemic.
As a UPU initiative, Post4Health is part of the UN family’s efforts to combat the pandemic.
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WHO
