Supplies of personal protection equipment (PPE), masks and other medical items made in China are being sent to developing countries to support health workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the country has said. 

Beate Trankmann spoke to Siwen Qian about the complications of securing supplies, how UNDP is ensuring the quality of the items being procured, and the pandemic’s impact on China’s economic development and its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).