UAE delivers ambulances and aid to Ethiopia

The Emirates Red Crescent distributed food and medical supplies

Aid and ambulances were sent to Ethiopia by the Emirates Red Crescent. Reem Mohammed / The National

The UAE has donated ambulances to Ethiopia to support the health sector.

The Emirates Red Crescent also delivered food and medical supplies to Ethiopia, where regions including Tigray have been hit by conflict and a humanitarian crisis.

Fahd bin Sultan, deputy secretary-general at ERC, said the UAE attaches great importance to advancing the humanitarian and developmental conditions in Ethiopia, and is always working to support and improve them.

"This initiative aligns with the UAE's objectives on the global scene to boost its foreign humanitarian aid efforts, and provide support to its brotherly countries, especially in the field of health," he said.

The initiative reflects the Emirates' approach to improving people's lives, he added, "by enhancing their access to basic needs, of which healthcare services are a top priority".

Desperately-needed aid

The delivery is one of many made, and facilitated, by the UAE in recent months.

In September, the UN thanked the UAE for enabling aid transfers to Ethiopia, after the organisation used Dubai as a humanitarian logistics hub for its aid drops.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that the World Health Organisation’s aid centre in Dubai had delivered 85 tonnes of equipment to Ethiopia in the “largest single shipment of humanitarian cargo to date”.

The UAE has also worked with the World Food Programme to send food to Mekele in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

In August, a flight delivered at least 200 tonnes of food supplies to Ethiopia.

Dubai sends food to Sudan and Ethiopia - in pictures

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  Dubai sent two flights carrying humanitarian aid to Sudan and Ethiopia to help tackle health, refugee and flood crises.

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  The two Boeing 747 cargo flights have reached their respective destinations of Khartoum and Addis Ababa.

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  Both flights were facilitated by the International Humanitarian City in Dubai.