How MTN Uganda is supporting govt efforts to combat COVID-19

 

It is against this background that corporate companies have joined hands with government to collectively combat the crisis.

 

Since the country went into an indefinite lockdown towards the end of March, companies have continuously donated both food and cash to he help meet the needs of those who have been denied an opportunity to earn a living due to the limitations imposed by the effort to curb the spread of the lethal coronavirus.

 

While these philanthropic efforts are critical, the fight against the deadly virus goes beyond overt donations. It is also about how companies are using their services, infrastructure, products, equipment, and expertise to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and help their employees, customers and the general public get through this crisis.

 

MTN Uganda, for instance, has contributed about sh2b to the COVID-19 effort. About half of it was in hard cash, the rest is in kind, in form of media space towards the ministry of health, help to National Water & Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) to provide water stands in water-stressed areas of Kampala, and support to the Uganda Red Cross as well as a call center at the disposal of the health ministry.

 

A field team prepares to install a water tank from MTN's donation in one of the locations

 

At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in Uganda, the Telecom allocated media space worth shs316million to the ministry of Health to run the much needed COVID-19 communication across different media. 

 

On the same day that announcement was made, MTN removed fees for sending any amount of money using MTN Mobile Money so as to enable its customers to send money to ease cashless transactions during these difficult times, at no extra cost.

 

To facilitate a free flow of information, MTN zero-rated the Ministry of Health website to enable people to get timely information without the need for data. 

 

As schools remained closed, the telecom also zero-rated a number of educational websites to enable learning to continue while the school-going children are at home. 

Most recently, the company zero-rated its university education websites, making it possible for university students in the seven major universities across the country to access their study material at ‘zero MBs".

 

As the country started registering cases of COVID-19, MTN set up a fully equipped call center at the MTN Head offices to support the Ministry of Health workforce in terms of receiving calls from members of the public seeking referrals and those seeking general information about the deadly coronavirus. 

 

To support the movement of both logistics and members of the Covid-19 Task Force as it spearheads the country's fight against the pandemic, MTN recently donated three brand new Nissan Hard Body pick-ups to the Office of the Prime Minister.

 

In a bid to promote handwashing and hygiene as one of the ways to prevent the spread of the fatal coronavirus, MTN provided another sh220m to National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) to provide relief to the masses of people living in water-stressed parts in and around Kampala. This is because water is especially important in the COVID-19 fight as hand washing is very critical.

 

RedCross' Josephine Okwera (second-left) and her team, Received the cheque from MTN's Rhona Arinaitwe (second-right)

 

MTN also provided another Shs.294million to the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) for surveillance, screening, psychological support in the high-risk areas and border points across the country. 

 

Additionally, the telecom provided a money collection point under its MoMoPay platform where MTN customers donated towards the URCS efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

A total of sh21.9m was collected from MTN customers and was handed over to URCS. Moving forward, the money collected by MTN customers on this platform shall go to the National COVID-19 Task Force to further aid in the fight against the devastating COVID-19 crisis.

 

While it is not clear when this crisis will end, MTN Uganda remains committed to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic together with the government of Uganda. MTN Uganda will continue to look at ways of supporting the government and communities, to fight Coronavirus Together.