Jack Ma Foundation publishes handbook, shares China’s experience in battling Covid-19

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma’s namesake philanthropic foundation collaborated with a hospital in China to publish an informational handbook about the hard-won lessons from its experience in treating patients with Covid-19, the viral disease that has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Medical staff who served at the frontlines of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine / Photo credit: First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Available in multiple languages, the publication was co-authored by several dozens of medical experts who served at the frontlines of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. The goal is to share their best practices in fighting the novel coronavirus with the international medical community. So far, the hospital has reported zero misdiagnoses and deaths despite treating 78 critically ill patients.

“Today, with the spread of the global pandemic, these experiences are precious and the most-important weapon for medical personnel,” wrote Ma in a foreword in the handbook. “We hope that, with this handbook, doctors and nurses in other affected areas can learn from experience as they face this battle, without having to start from scratch.”

Ongoing efforts

The handbook is the latest move by the Jack Ma Foundation to help curb the spread of Covid-19. At time of publishing, it has affected over 165 countries and killed over 7,900 people worldwide.

Since earlier this month, the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation have collectively donated over 1.7 million testing kits, 12 million surgical masks, and 60,000 protective medical suits to countries that have been hit hard by the virus, including Spain, Italy, South Korea, and Japan.

A shipment of 500,000 testing kits is expected to arrive in the US this week. The Jack Ma Foundation is also teaming up with the government of Ethiopia to distribute testing kits and urgently needed medical supplies to all 54 countries in Africa.

Donations of the vital medical supplies to Japan from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation / Photo credit: Alibaba Group

The Jack Ma Foundation is also working from various angles to stamp out Covid-19. Last month, it donated US$2.15 million to the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Australia and US$2.1 million to New York City-based Columbia University to support the research and development of a vaccine as well as treatments for the disease.

“The crisis presents a huge challenge to all humankind in a globalized world. The pandemic we face today can no longer be resolved by any individual country. Rather, we need to combat the virus by working hand-in-hand,” said Ma in a statement posted on Twitter. “At this moment, we can’t beat this virus unless we eliminate boundaries to resources and share our know-how and hard-earned lessons.”

Cultivating a culture of philanthropy

Ma is no stranger to dealing with calamities like the current pandemic.

In 2003, he had to lead Alibaba – a fledgling business at the time – through the SARS outbreak. It emerged from the crisis stronger and more rooted in its mission and values, said close observers of the company.

“While most of us would have panicked, Jack stayed calm and rallied us to stick together to keep the company running,” Porter Erisman, who was then a vice president at Alibaba, told Tech in Asia. “He pointed out that it was important not only for Alibaba’s survival but also for the survival of all of the small and medium-sized businesses that depended on Alibaba.”

Photo credit: Alibaba Group

Recognizing that SMEs are a crucial aspect of China’s economy, Alibaba took a similar approach this time around and moved swiftly to launch measures to alleviate the financial pains of merchants operating on its online marketplaces.

Its logistics arm Cainiao established the “Green Channel,” a data-driven solution to expedite the entire supply chain. From customs clearance to last-mile delivery, the logistics channel ensures that critical supplies and daily necessities reach those in need.

Alibaba’s Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace, also rolled out relief programs to help local farmers sell their fresh produce at a time when a big portion of the country’s population wasn’t able to go to the wet markets or supermarkets. By leveraging Alibaba’s own online livestreaming tools, Chinese farmers avoided having a wasted surplus, and customers could receive fresh food without breaking the quarantine.

Ma retired as Alibaba’s executive chairman last year to focus on his philanthropic endeavors, which include improving rural education and public health. But the culture of philanthropy he encouraged at the company has remained.

Just two days after the city of Wuhan was quarantined, Alibaba set aside a fund of 1 billion yuan (US$142.8 million) for medical supplies to be bought and sent to China’s most affected regions.

The company also moved quickly with its aid overseas. Donations to Europe have been routed through Liege, Belgium, where Alibaba is setting up a logistics hub for the continent. Belgium is also a key part of Ma’s efforts to create an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), agreeing in 2018 to set up a digital free-trade hub.

For more information about the Jack Ma Foundation, visit its Twitter page.