If you've arrived here then I first and foremost hope that you and your loved ones safe and healthy.
If you've arrived here then I first and foremost hope that you and your loved ones safe and healthy.
We're in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that is affecting all our lives in ways we could never have predicted. The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is truly global and, if we are to see an end to it, our response must be global too. That’s why we're launching the UBS Optimus Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund
If you want to give it your support and help contain the outbreak, we'd like to invite you to team up with us. You donate, we match 10% of your donation.
Though these are uncertain times for us all, some of us are fortunate to live in a country where social distancing – while uncomfortable – is possible and our health and sanitation infrastructure is set up to save many lives. This is not the case in many developing countries and when the virus does take hold there – and we see this is already beginning with cases reported in more than 50 African countries1 – the impact could be catastrophic. This new wave of infection and loss of life will have lasting implications for us all.
But there is a great deal of hope, which is built on first-hand, on-the-ground experience. The UBS Optimus Foundation – and clients like you – reacted quickly during the Ebola outbreak, and that response helped turn the tide and saved many thousands of lives.
Today, you can help do the same for the coronavirus outbreak. With a gift to the UBS Optimus Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund, you could help save 20 million lives in low and middle-income countries.
This is not a figure pulled from the air. Experts project almost 20 million people in low- and middle-income countries could die from the virus.2 Your donation to the UBS Optimus Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund can help save these lives.
In a nutshell – our aim is to:
- preventthe spread of the virus through education on symptoms, social distances and hygiene;
- detectcases by supporting health workers to identify symptoms and facilitate testing;
- respondby ramping up emergency treatment while making sure routine health services continue to function.
A simple strategy, but one that’s hard to implement, which is why we already have ties with best-in-class global organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières, as well as local, frontline organizations like Last Mile Health in Liberia.
This combination of global and local response is what we need to turn the tide. But this combination requires a crucial third party: people like you, who spread the word, possess the foresight, and generosity to help make it possible.
I believe this is a time for us all to pull together and help in any way we can. If you do feel inspired to support the Fund, or would like to find out more, please get in touch.
With thanks and warm wishes,
Phyllis Costanza
Head UBS in Society and CEO UBS Optimus Foundation
