Bangladesh has taken the initiative to activate D8 Health and Social Protection Programme to fight COVID-19 as the pandemic has deep impact on the member countries.

The D8 HSP became functional six months back and taking this opportunity, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has written a letter to his Turkish counterpart (Turkey is the current Chair of D-8) to explore options how the member countries could utilize the HSP window to support each other during this crisis.

After consultation, eight member countries of D8 located in Asia, Africa and Europe will meet at a virtual meeting on Thursday to come up with mechanisms to lessen the hardship through sharing best practices and resources.

It is also anticipated that the meeting attended by health sector bosses will also find means to share number of developed and home-grown health innovation ecosystems and exchanges within or between D-8 countries, says a press release.

The D-8 nations (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey) may also agree on a research methodology to measure the health and socio-economic impact of the pandemic.

Bangladesh delegation will be led by officials from the DG Health Services and allied institutions which are part of the Covid-19 response team.

The HSP virtual meeting will be supported by global health experts from observer and partner organisations like Chatham House, World Health Organization, ILO, IsDB, Global Women Leaders in Health and CHESTRAD International.