(3 minutes read)
· To reach out to a continent, where the transportation network
is not so developed, WFP is using a specially developed App to
provide both medical and humanitarian aid to disaster stricken areas.
· A team of 25 WFP aviation and logistics staff is based at the
regional hub at Bole International Airport.
· They manage the 24-hour operation that transports cargo and
humanitarian goods across the continent, which is monitored through
mobile applications.
The World Food Program (WFP), a wing of the United Nations, has a huge
responsibility cast on it in these difficult times of Covid-19. It has
its role cut out in Africa, where almost all countries are challenged
by lack of food.
To reach out to a continent, where transportation network is not so
developed, WFP is using a specially developed App to provide both
medical and humanitarian aid to disaster stricken areas. That includes
the use of an e-commerce app, which involves use of complex logistics
models. To cover the huge land mass with 54 –nation states, WFP is
using a hub and spoke model for transporting food and healthcare
products.
Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa’s airport –Bole International Airport
-is the hub for arranging supplies for onward distribution to over
30 African countries (spokes). Every country is using the App for
further distribution to interiors. For instance, in the Somali capital
Mogadishu, people are using an app to order food items online and have
them delivered at doorsteps. These facilities are helping people in
two ways: one they need not be in the queue for getting the food
items, thereby avoiding social contacts and two: they save on
transport and drudgery.
WFP, since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Africa since late January,
has dispatched humanitarian and medical cargo to several countries
to support governments and health partners. Also a team of 25 WFP
aviation and logistics staff is based at the regional hub at Bole
International Airport. They manage the 24-hour operation that
transports cargo and humanitarian goods across the continent, which
is monitored through mobile applications. The online supplies are also
ensuring that the delivery is done to the target group.
