By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The Chainstore Association of Pakistan (CAP) and its member brands have come forward to help Pakistanis fight the novel coronavirus by pledging to donate 5 million cotton face masks. Federal Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz on Monday lauded the initiative of Chainstore Association of Pakistan to distribute five million face masks among the people. While launching the “Mask4All Campaign†here he said this initiative was a good example of public-private partnership. Under this campaign the CAP would distribute five million face masks in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He said that adopting precautionary measures was best possible way of protection against the pandemic and most effective antidote was use of face mask, especially at the places where public interaction takes place.
He said that use of gloves should be promoted along with the face masks. He urged the people to strictly follow the Standard Operating Procedures issued by the government. Everyone must join hands to defeat this epidemic, he added. †Our resources are limited, we have to be careful not only about ourselves but also to protect others,†Shibli remarked.
This collaboration brings together over 200 of Pakistan’s leading retail brands together for a common united philanthropic endeavor.
In conjunction with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this united initiative aims to launch the global Masks4All campaign in Pakistan and shall work together to manufacture and donate cotton masks via its distribution partner, SabSaath.org – an initiative of Zaman Foundation.
#Masks4All is a global grassroots campaign to show how Governments of Japan, HongKong, Czech Republic, Austria, South Korea etc have made cotton/home-made face masks mandatory in public and they were able to control the spread of the virus very quickly. Countries with mandatory mask laws have 100x lower COVID-19 rates than other countries.
