UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock on Wednesday urged rich countries to contribute and help the most vulnerable countries fight COVID-19.

"It would be a smart strategy and an intelligent strategy for every developed country just to spend a little bit of their money on dealing with this problem in the most vulnerable places," Lowcock said at the virtual launch event of a 2-billion-U.S.-dollar global humanitarian response plan to fight COVID-19 in some of the world's most vulnerable countries.

The UN humanitarian chief applauded the huge economic stimulus plans being developed around the world and said, "That's going to help."

Speaking of the vulnerability of the conflict-ridden countries faced with the pandemic, Lowcock said, "They have the weakest health systems. They have the fewest facilities, the fewest number of health workers, and the scarcest availability of equipment."

"This is the easiest place, as we know from all the research, for the disease to take hold," he said, noting that if the virus "takes hold there and it's not dealt with there, it remains a threat to everybody."

"If anybody on the planet wants to be safe, the best approach is to keep the people in the most vulnerable places safe, and ... if we act early, we will have the best response," he said.

"That's why we're putting this response plan in place now," Lowcock added. Enditem

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