Since 2012, Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) has remained on the frontlines of assisting communities disrupted by natural disasters to providing medical services for areas lacking adequate healthcare systems. To keep in line with its mission, the organization (named after her maternal grandparents), responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a sizable donation, CNN reports.
By administering $5 million to organizations in the United States to others across the seas, the foundation plans to ramp up services for those battling the virus, specifically in remote areas where large scale medical units are hard to implement.
The organizations that’ll benefit from the donation include the International Rescue Committee, Partners In Health, Feeding America, Direct Relief, the World Health Organization (WHO), and various medical outlets in Rihanna’s native country, Barbados (where the “Work” singer reportedly purchased $700,000 worth of ventilators). The companies will be able to buy the necessary equipment needed to treat patients, gear to keep healthcare workers safe, administer information to large populations, and distribute food where needed.
“When we first began this year, never could we have imagined how (the coronavirus) would so dramatically alter our lives. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, this pandemic will affect us all,” a statement from the foundation reads. “And for the world’s most vulnerable, the worst may be yet to come.”
While the CLF hopes its donation will assist with testing kits, WHO notes the act of “aggressive testing” is needed to begin effectively tackling COVID-19’s spread while adding that the number of positive cases will inevitably increase. A vaccine is in the early stages of a trial run with countries like China, South Korea, and the U.S. looking to scientists and researchers to create a viable cure.
In an effort to administer information on testing results, Fast Company published an article on the COVID Tracking Project. The online database, created by scientist Jeff Hammerbacher and The Atlantic‘s Robinson Meyer and Alexis Madrigal, allows users to keep up to date with how many tests and positive cases occur each day in their state.