COVID-19 PROJET RESPONSE
Crédit : Oriane Zerah
Context
In the wake of a devastating global pandemic we all find ourselves living in an exceptional time. Some, disproportionately–Afghanistan being one of the most vulnerable countries in the world facing this challenge.
Several cases of COVID -19 have been officially identified in Afghanistan, with the number rising daily. With limited testing available, the number of cases is massively underestimated.
Thousands of Afghan refugees have been forced back into the country from Iran, one of the most severely impacted countries by COVID – 19, due to Iranian hospitals refusing to care for them. There are no monitoring or testing systems in place upon their return to Afghanistan. There are an estimated mere 60 respirators for the country’s population of 35 million people.
While large cities like Kabul are on ordered lockdown and relatively well informed about the virus, rural areas, including the provinces where Afghanistan Libre works, are being left behind.
The country’s precarious health system is recognized as one of the worst in the world. Further, Afghanistan’s fragile political situation and the persistence of attacks by ISIS and the Taliban place the country at risk of a catastrophic health crisis.
Project
On its own scale, Afghanistan Libre is developing a project whose objective is to contribute to the fight against Covid-19 in the rural areas of Afghanistan by raising the awareness of the population and equipping them to deal with the epidemic in the best possible way.
This project is composed of two phases:
– a pilot phase set up in Paghman district (Kabul province). The aim of the project was to raise awareness and equip our beneficiaries through the manufacture and distribution of masks, hygiene kits and awareness booklets.
– a scale-up second phase will be implemented shortly in the province of Parwan. We chose to focus on this particular province because the virus is circulating there very actively and the population is suffering from massive misinformation. Indeed, most infected people, in the absence of information, think they have contracted typhus or malaria even though they have all the symptoms of the coronavirus.
Covid-19 Response in Paghman district
Afghanistan Libre has implemented three core actions:
– To raise awareness among rural populations regarding the virus and proper barrier gestures to prevent its spread through the distribution of information booklets adapted for illiterate persons.
– To protect communities by making and distributing free face masks. These masks are sewn by the beneficiaries of Afghanistan Libre’s vocational training programs.
– To equip the most vulnerable families with hygiene kits.
BENEFICIARIES
Crédit : Oriane Zerah
The project is financed by the Fondation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse de Luxembourg.
Covid-19 Response in Parwan Province
Here we propose an expansion of the activities of the pilot phase in the province of Parwan, which is facing the same problems and where the health and economic crisis is on the rise:
– Distribution of masks, hygiene kits and awareness booklets for 50,000 people.
– To sponsor the broadcasting of a special radio program dedicated to the fight against Covid19 and broadcasted from Tcharikar : each one-hour show will be broadcast once a day during one month, with a different speaker per day (in turn a doctor, a psychologist or an economist). People can call and ask questions.
The aim of this program is to raise awareness, convey as widely as possible messages of prevention and good practices against coronavirus, and to refute the false rumors and beliefs that are unfortunately very widespread. The radio reaches a largely misinformed rural audience of about 700,000 people between the provinces of Parwan and Kapisa.
– Material support to public hospitals in Parwan province to support their most pressing needs, in cooperation with the Afghan Ministry of Health
BENEFICIARIES
Le projet est financé par la Fondation Juniclair
Crédit : Oriane Zerah
