Davide Arcuri

BESTSELLER FOUNDATION donates to efforts against COVID-19

The BESTSELLER FOUNDATION donates 500,000 USD to Doctors Without Borders (MSF)’s work in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The money gives the organization the possibility to respond quickly and take new operational actions to contain the spread of COVID-19. Both in connection to prevention and treatment of patients.

The corona pandemic is a global health crisis that calls for acute aid and medical expertise. MSF has decades of experience with containing and treating epidemics like Ebola and cholera.

“The corona virus has hit resourceful countries hard so we are especially worried about how the outbreak can hit fragile health systems,” says Jesper Brix, General Director of MSF Denmark.

Therefore, MSF has begun a global effort to avoid a larger, global catastrophe in countries where people live close to each other and where the health systems are already strained.

One example is in Kenya where we have staff supporting the Kibera South Health Centre in Kibera, the largest slum settlement in Nairobi, a health facility built and previously run by MSF. The team is boosting infection prevention control, triage, screening and managing referral of people who are suspected of being infected to a nearby hospital.

MSF has also adapted the way we care for people to protect our staff and patients – for example, giving ARVs (antiretroviral HIV medicine) to patients for three months, so they have to come to health centres less frequently.

“The pandemic calls for the responsibility of everyone for extraordinary support. At BESTSELLER FOUNDATION we are supporting MSF’s crucial efforts. Not least are we very concerned with the spread of the virus in densely populated areas in India and across many African countries, where an uncontrollable spread of the virus could lead to a severe humanitarian crisis. In addition to our donation, we are proud to see our colleagues from the BESTSELLER brands helping to raise further awareness about MSF’s work,” explains Jannek Hagen, Managing Director of BESTSELLER FOUNDATION.

In addition to the donation from the BESTSELLER foundation several of BESTSELLER’s fashion brands such as VERO MODA and JACK & JONES will run Instagram campaigns on behalf of doctors without borders, aiming to utilise the BESTSELLER brands’ social media reach.

“The support from the BESTSELLER FOUNDATION is a very important contribution to MSF’s work against COVID-19, both in areas where we are normally operational, such as East Africa, but also in countries where extraordinarily there is a large need for our efforts right now,” Jesper Brix explains.

MSF is in close contact with health authorities in the countries where the organization is active to offer our medical expertise.

“Our organization, and much of our staff, have direct experience with fighting epidemics like Ebola, the plague, cholera, tuberculosis and other diseases. It is that experience we can use and contribute with – now with the help from the support from the Bestseller Foundation,” Jesper Brix says.