Under Phase II of the Somaliland Development Fund (SDF2) programme, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands have approved four agreements with the Somaliland Government to improve critical infrastructure to support economic growth. These projects were prioritised by Phase II of the Government of Somaliland’s National Development Plan, and will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across Somaliland. The new agreements, supporting projects on roads, agricultural facilities, water systems and fisheries will spur economic growth benefitting the region and helping contribute towards a stable, peaceful and resilient Somaliland while improving its resilience to future pandemics through enhanced water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure.

These projects include:

Project 1:Rebuilding of Burao–Sheikh-Berbera road in Togdheer and Sahil regions

The rebuilding of the Burao to Berbera road will include 82km of full asphalt concrete overlay, the resurfacing of bridges and renewal of drainage systems. Improving connectivity between Somaliland’s port and its second largest city will reduce travel time and costs benefiting the 50,000 members of the public who use this road regularly and contributing to economic development by enhancing service delivery and boosting trade, particularly in the livestock, agriculture, and fishery sectors.

Project 2:Sustainable land management in Awdal and Maroodijeh regions:

The project will improve the agricultural production of small farmers through soil and water conservation, research, extension and farmer training. This project will target the agricultural areas of Durdur Ad Upper Catchment in Awdal and Maroodijeh Upper Catchment in Maroodijeh.

Project 3: Support to the Hargeisa Water Agency, supplying water to the people of Hargeisa.

The SDF2 will continue its support to the Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA), which supplies clean water to the people of Hargeisa. This project will allow HWA to extract an additional 4,000 m3 of water each day from Laasdhure aquifer. This project will increase the water available in Hargeisa by more than 20%, to 23,000m3 per day – enough to meet the needs of an additional 200,000 people.

Project 4: Construction of Maydh fishing jetty in the Sanaag region:

The Maydh Jetty will improve interconnectivity by sea between Berbera and the 750,000 people living in the hinterland of Sanaag and parts of Togdheer, spurring regional economic growth as well as facilitating the transport of fish to markets. This support will boost food security, employment and incomes.

The British Ambassador to Somalia, Ben Fender, said:

The UK is committed to supporting Somaliland lay the foundations for sustainable economic growth. We are announcing today a set of major infrastructure investments in four sectors across Somaliland. We will be upgrading the road from Burco to Berbera, supporting agricultural production in Awdal and Moroodijeh, increasing by 20% the water in Hargeisa, and building a jetty in Maydh to enable exports from Sanaag and Togdheer. These projects will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people by creating jobs and unlocking the region’s economic potential. At a time of huge challenges for Somaliland, including tackling COVID-19, this demonstrates the UK’s commitment to the people of Somaliland.

The Danish Ambassador to Somalia, Mette Knudsen, said:

Denmark warmly welcomes the approval of these four important SDF projects and the solidarity shown by the Government of Somaliland and SDF donors to identify priority needs, ensure regional and sectoral balance, and align SDF investments with the priorities of Somaliland’s NDPII. The investments are particularly timely in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic effects that are only just beginning to emerge. We are confident that these investments will have catalytic effects to spur Somaliland’s economic development and to help support and sustain Somaliland’s economic recovery from this terrible pandemic.

The Netherlands Ambassador to Somalia, Frans Makken, said:

The Kingdom of Netherlands has enjoyed cordial and collaborative relations with the Somaliland Government over many years; and through the projects in the SDF2, the Netherlands is happy to be part of the contribution to strengthening the social contract between the government and its people. These projects will strengthen the positive social and economic growth trajectory of Somaliland.

Scientific modelling at the start of the coronavirus crisis predicted that the NHS was going to run out of ventilators, so the Government launched the Ventilator Challenge with a call to arms to manufacturers and medical device companies to step up production of existing designs and design new ventilators from scratch.

The Government received an overwhelming response, with over 5000 companies offering their support and over 7500 members of staff contributing to the effort.

Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of the British people, and to businesses across the United Kingdom in joining the national effort, the NHS has been protected throughout the coronavirus crisis and everyone who needed a ventilator has been able to access one.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

The Ventilator Challenge has proven just how much Britain can achieve when confronted with a difficult problem – bringing together the best minds in manufacturing, innovation and design.

Thanks to these efforts, everyone who needed a ventilator has had access to one, and the NHS has the vital machines it needs to continue providing life-saving support against this deadly virus.

UK production of ventilators under the Ventilator Challenge is to draw to a close this weekend with 14,000 devices expected to have been produced in around three months, accounting for over a half of all the ventilators now available to the NHS frontline.

It has also been confirmed that the Penlon ventilator has had its CE mark confirmed, meaning that the device, which was newly adapted for the Ventilator Challenge, is now available for export abroad. Learning from their experiences of the Ventilator Challenge Penlon are now setting up a new line aimed at exporting across the world.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove said:

The Ventilator Challenge has been a great success and I would like to thank every manufacturer and designer, and their incredible workforces, for the huge part they’ve played in the national effort to protect our NHS and save lives.

In around three months, industry has stepped up to make 14,000 new machines to save lives on the NHS frontline and to help safeguard against any future outbreak.

The Ventilator Challenge has shown that UK manufacturing always rises to the challenge at a time of national need. Everyone involved is truly a hero of the coronavirus crisis.

The programme has formed a key part of a successful three pillar strategy to increase the number of mechanical ventilators, with over 25,000 devices now available in total to the NHS, up from 9,000 before the start of the pandemic. Over 2,500 have been imported from abroad.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

We protected the NHS during this global pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 showed the best and the brightest stepping forward to serve their country. The response the government received to this challenge was astonishing.

Alongside the government’s wider ventilator strategy, the Ventilator Challenge has played a crucial role in ensuring everyone who has needed a ventilator during this pandemic has had access to one.

The Government’s strategy involved procuring devices from overseas, scaling up the production of existing devices and calling on manufacturers who do not make ventilators, to help design and build new models.

The Ventilator Challenge helped scale up the production of three models (paraPAC, Vivo65 and Nippy4+) and helped guide one newly adapted model, the Penlon ESO 2, all the way through regulatory approval.

A number of other UK manufacturers also progressed novel designs to advanced stages within weeks. Four of these designs, the Dyson/TTP CoVent, the Babcock Zephyr+, the Cambridge Consultants Veloci-Vent and the Swagelok Piran Vent, were deemed to have achieved a performance level which met the MHRA’s requirements. The independent testing organisation (MD-TEC) concluded that they would have all been clinically usable as pandemic ventilators and could have supported large numbers of critically ill patients. Ultimately these designs were not progressed to mass production as part of the Ventilator Challenge due to reduced demand.

Director of the Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre, which tested the Ventilator Challenge devices, Dr Tom Clutton-Brock, said:

Designing, manufacturing and testing ventilators usually takes years. So it’s outstanding the progress which has been made in a space of months.

Having tested all of these devices, it’s impressive that several new models met the regulator’s requirements.

These models would all have been clinically usable as pandemic ventilators and could have supported large numbers of critically ill patients.

The NHS now has a readily available supply of devices that will enable the health service to have resilience of supply for possible future pandemics.

Penlon and Smiths, who are part of the Ventilator Challenge UK consortium have so far delivered over 10,000 devices. Penlon is now making more ventilators in one day than the company used to deliver in ten months, further underlining the success of the scaling up of the device.

The last Penlon and Smiths devices will be delivered this weekend, subject to final manufacturing and testing, and with the addition of the final Breas devices arriving in the coming weeks, we expect the Ventilator Challenge will produce a total of over 14,000 devices.

In addition, today there are also around 11,000 non-invasive ventilators and almost 5,000 CPAP machines available to the NHS across the UK which were not available before the start of the crisis.

Guru Krishnamoorthy, CEO Penlon said:

It has been an amazing and humbling experience for Penlon to be a part of such a nationally important project. There is nothing more purposeful for a UK medical device company than rising to an occasion like this to save thousands of lives.

Every member of Penlon has put in their best lifetime efforts into this project. We have been supported extremely well by the members and leaders of the Consortium companies, our suppliers and other business partners. We take this opportunity to thank each one of them. We wish the people of the UK and rest of the world a very safe and healthy life. We commit ourselves to do everything required and continue to provide high quality medical devices.

Raffi Stepanian, CEO Breas Medical said:

I would like to thank my colleagues, our suppliers and the UK Cabinet Office for the extraordinary efforts everyone has made to address the emergency need for ventilators and to support us to ramp up capacity. The ingenuity, commitment, pace and collaboration has been breathtaking and truly inspirational all against the backdrop of such demanding circumstances.