Belgrade, June 12 - The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) presented the 23 most innovative local solutions for reducing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia, that responded to the call for innovation in time of crisis, launched in March this year.

The approximate total value of all presented ideas is 7 million dollars. With the support of USAID and the German Embassy in Serbia, financial resources were provided for the 4 selected winners to realize their ideas. This will enable the production of protective masks, mechanical ventilators, and the development of a system for monitoring hand disinfection in health care institutions.

The USAID Mission Director in Serbia, Mike de la Rosa, the German Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Thomas Schieb, the Director of the Institute of Public Health of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut", Dr. Verica Jovanović and the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) Serbia, Dr. Marijan Ivanuša spoke about the importance of these solutions. They stated that the crisis caused by the coronavirus indicated the need for local production of medical devices and equipment necessary for health protection.

UNDP Resident Representative in Serbia, Francine Pickup, pointed out that in addition to increasing the health system capacities to respond to similar challenges in the future, this initiative will also stimulate innovation, local business development, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Solutions to problems with prevention, detection and treatment of Covid-19, as well as innovative ways for disinfection and medical waste treatment are presented on an online platform available at: https://covid19response.undp.org.rs/en/.

The call for innovation that UNDP in Serbia opened in March 2020, inviting the corporate and R&D sector to respond to health crisis, is a part of a broader response to COVID-19, which included a range of activities aimed at helping Serbia fight the coronavirus epidemic.

We invite all those interested to join us and support the implementation of the best ideas, in order to jointly ensure the immediate and future resilience of the health system to pandemics and similar challenges.