Istanbul, June 17 — The UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) and Turkey’s International Health Services Inc. (USHAŞ) have launched a partnership today to explore and act on joint capacity building opportunities regarding the production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The demand for PPE has reached an unprecedented level with the coronavirus pandemic, overwhelming the domestic production capacities of individual countries. Developing countries experience the devastating impact of the pandemic more heavily. While their healthcare facilities struggle to cope with the steep increase in the rate of infections, domestic PPE production efforts remain insufficient amid the rising demand. As countries increasingly look for solutions to overcome critical challenges in PPE production, a vital opportunity for cooperation in the transfer of expertise and goods is born.

In this context, UNDP IICPSD and USHAŞ, a healthcare enterprise owned by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance of the Republic of Turkey, affirmed their commitment to explore joint capacity building opportunities in the transfer of know-how and facilitate the communication between Turkey and partner countries about high-quality PPE production, particularly within the framework of South-South Cooperation. This commitment was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by both parties.

The framework of the agreement is oriented towards capacity building efforts along the PPE supply chain to design an immediate response to COVID-19. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, both parties agreed to share their expertise about the best practices in PPE production with developing countries in the Global South. UNDP IICPSD and USHAŞ will also jointly assess the technical feasibility of an online knowledge platform with guidelines based on USHAŞ’s current model of support for high-quality PPE production in line with the EU Standards.

The online ceremony was attended by more than 100 participants in addition to the Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of Turkey, H.E. Prof. Dr. Emine Alp Meşe and the UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, Haoliang Xu, who also delivered keynote speeches. Other speakers at the event included the General Manager of USHAŞ, Mehmet Ali Kılıçkaya, Director of IICPSD, Sahba Sobhani, Deputy Director of IICPSD, Gülçin Salıngan, and UNDP’s Resident Representative in Turkey, Claudio Tomasi.

About IICPSD

UNDP’s Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD), supports the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development. The Center was established in 2011 in partnership with the Government of Turkey. The Center’s work to engage the private sector focuses on four thematic areas: Inclusive Business; Private Sector Engagement in Skills Development; Impact Investing; and Resilience and Crisis Response.

About USHAŞ

USHAS is an organization duly organized as the relevant institution of the Ministry of Health under the laws of Republic of Turkey, owned by Ministry of Treasury and Finance and committed to promote health services and health institutions of Turkey in international area, to support and coordinate the activities of public and private sectors towards health tourism, to provide consultancy services internationally in the field of public-private partnership models, to supply medicines, medical devices and consumables, and to make recommendations to the Ministry on policies and strategies for international health services, service delivery standards and accreditation criteria. USHAŞ operates within the Republic of Turkey.

For any inquiries, please contact:

Evrim Ayana Karslı, ayana.karsli@undp.org