Support Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis Response

Project Report | Jul 13, 2022
Update on IRC's COVID-19 Response

By Christine Corcoran | Impact Report Services

Afghan women wearing masks for protection

Update on IRC’s COVID-19 Response

The spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in recent months served as a stark reminder of vaccine inequality. To bridge these gaps, the IRC has delivered COVID-19 vaccinations to refugees and displaced people in Uganda, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and elsewhere. Complementing our vaccination efforts, we have established new clinics, increased the number of safe water sources to prevent the spread of the virus, invested in the capacity of frontline workers and ensured our clients have access to trustworthy medical and safety information about the ongoing pandemic. We have and continue to connect people with resources to support education sectors and economies that are fragile and failing due to the ripple effects of the pandemic.

Health System Strengthening in Bangladesh

We made important improvements to the health system in Cox’s Bazarto ensure it was fit-for-purpose during the pandemic. The IRC set up a Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centre in Cox’s Bazar to serve the needs of COVID-19 positive patients who were suffering from moderate to severe symptoms. It was inaugurated in 2020 and has continued to see patients this year. We expanded transportation options for patients with severe symptoms to reach health facilities and improved sanitization protocols in ambulances. We scaled up the number of staff (e.g., doctors, nurses, midwives, cleaning professionals, etc.) and trainedthem on infection prevention, personal protective equipment and case management. We also implemented a Home-based Care Hub to alleviate pressures on local clinics.

Our vaccination campaign has covered more than 300,000 Rohingya refugees–in a context where women disproportionately are unvaccinated, we are pleased to share that 52% of these clients have been female.

Support for Afghan Families Experiencing Compounding Crises

In August 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, commonly known as the Taliban, took control of the country. The Taliban’s control of the country and concurrent violence led international donors to immediately suspend most nonhumanitarian funding and freeze billions of dollars’ worth of assets. Without this funding, most health clinics closed, and the economy spiraled downward. The country now confronts an ongoing drought and hunger crisis and possible fourth wave of COVID-19.

The scale of the Afghan evacuation beginning in August was unprecedented in recent decades, with over 74,000 Afghans evacuating to the United States to be resettled by organizations like the International Rescue Committee. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the evacuation was the largest since the Vietnam War. Our resettlement operations in the United States have facilitated over 10,000 medical visits and COVID-19 vaccinations for displaced Afghan people. We have also helped to secure 10,000 short-term lodging situations and/or hotel stays for resettled Afghans and connected thousands with hygiene supplies and other materials to help ensure they are safe and healthy as they start new lives in this country.

The Way Forward

The pandemic and its effects will not end until everyone is accounted for, including refugees and internally displaced persons. As more families are displaced by violence and impacted by crisis in Yemen, Ethiopia, Syria and beyond, we are mobilizing our resources and staff.

Our COVID-19 response and your support will continue to have relevance throughout our work in 2022. We are responding to the complex crisis in Ukraine, as well as dozens of concurrent emergencies that are shattering a record number of lives around the world. Ukrainians struggled to control the COVID-19 pandemic before the invasion by Russia fragmented the country’s health system. Additionally, without effective intervention, this crisis could have far-reaching implications across Europe and the globe. It could destabilize the continent, strain the resources of Ukraine’s neighbors, and impact food supplies and costs for countries like Yemen and Libya –countries with low COVID-19 vaccination rates that are already facing acute levels of food insecurity and failing health systems. Your investment has scaled up programs that not only have had an immediate impact for children, women and men in some of the hardest hit communities, but also have created a significant blueprint for future humanitarian action.

Thank you for your support which funds our critical work to slow the spread of COVID-19 and helps to reduce the secondary impacts of the virus.

IRC health worker prepping a vaccine in Bangladesh

IRC health worker in Bangladesh giving a vaccine

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Mar 16, 2022
The Impact of your Support: Two Years of COVID-19

By Sophie O'Gorman | Officer, Donor Propositions

Mitigating COVID-19 transmission in Colombia

It has now been two years since the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and more than one year since the world began vaccinating against the disease. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we have connected millions of people to health, water and sanitation, education and nutrition support in the context of this pandemic. We have also created a clear foundation from which we can continue our work. We have honed our program models so that we are ready to provide support for communities that continue to experience the pressures of the pandemic in areas where we work—including in the world’s worst crisis zones.

The recent spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant has served as another stark reminder of vaccine inequality. Half of the countries on the IRC’s Emergency Watchlist—the countries at greatest risk of experiencing a deteriorating crisis in 2022 —have vaccinated less than 10% of their populations, with Democratic Republic of Congo (0.8%), Haiti (1%), Yemen (2%) and South Sudan (4%) being left the furthest behind.

To help bridge these gaps, the IRC has delivered COVID-19 vaccinations to refugees and displaced people in Uganda, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Bangladesh, etc. Complementing our vaccination efforts, we continue to connect people with resources to support fragile and failing health systems, education sectors and economies.

Vaccinations for refugees in Kakuma, Kenya

The IRC began vaccinating individuals in Kakuma Refugee Camp in early 2021. To date, our team has helped to administer over 30,000 doses.

Refugee families in Kakuma live together in small tents and makeshift homes and are confined in small spaces without access to proper water, sanitation and hygiene, making the conditions ripe for the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. The pandemic led to fear and stigma across the community. Widespread misinformation was often shared across Kakuma using WhatsApp and other social media. IRC staff have continuously worked to promote vaccine-positive messages to mitigate vaccine hesitancy. We launched radio shows to dispel rumors and answer questions, providing factual information to the community in languages they would understand.

The IRC continues to vaccinate communities in Kakuma and we intend to scale our vaccine hesitancy response work further in 2022.

Learning for Children on the Move in Colombia and Beyond

Millions of children in Colombia have been impacted by COVID-related school closures, including more than 450,000 school-aged Venezuelan children, of whom about 260,000 were already out of school before the pandemic began. The combination of COVID closures and pre-existing access challenges for Venezuelan students calls for a versatile response.

The IRC has developed a radio program called Play Well designed for children ages 3 to 12, which focuses on developing social-emotional learning skills. The show has reached over 3.5M radio listeners. In addition, Play Well is now underway in Uganda and Tanzania, leveraging lessons learned during its implementation in Colombia. The first 3 episodes have aired in East Africa and were well received. 10 episodes were produced in English, Acholi, Bari, Juba Arabic and French, Swahili and Kirundi. Play Well demonstrates our client-centered approach to program design during the pandemic – we worked with local organizations to ensure the materials were contextualized and spoke to the unique challenges, stories and cultures of listeners.

Thank you for your support which funds our critical work to slow the spread of COVID-19, and helps to reduce the secondary impacts of the virus.

IRC community health worker in Kenya

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Nov 12, 2021
Impact of your support: vaccines for all

By Andrea Ocampo | Officer, Global Funding & Impact Services

An IRC client gets vaccinated in Za'atari Camp

COVID-19 remains a powerful reminder of the world’s inequalities, as people who are displaced or living in crisis are the hardest hit by the impacts of the pandemic and the last to receive Covid-19 vaccinations. The vaccine distribution is largely concentrated in high-income countries, despite dire need in conflict-affected, low-income countries.

As of October 15, 2021, 47.3% of the world population have received at least one dose of the vaccine, yet only 2.7% of people in low-income countries have. Across crisis-affected countries, we have seen health systems at full capacity and facing shortages of lifesaving supplies. The pandemic and its effects will not end until everyone has access to the vaccine—including those who are hardest to reach.

Providing vaccines in low-income communities

With your vital support—and the IRC’s strong track record responding to health emergencies—we are working to ensure that people displaced by conflict, climate change and other crises are included in the vaccine rollout and are ready to receive it.

We are supporting local health systems, training healthcare workers, and engaging communities to encourage vaccine acceptance and to address misinformation. The IRC is administering COVID-19 vaccinations in Jordan, Uganda, Somalia, Bangladesh and Kenya. As vaccines continue to arrive, we roll them out through the network of health facilities we support in the countries where we work.

The Government of Bangladesh appointed the IRC as the lead health actor in administering vaccines in Cox’s Bazar, and on August 10 Rohingya refugees started receiving their doses. IRC health workers have been delivering first and second doses to people ages 55 and over. We are exceeding vaccination targets of 57 people per day, and have vaccinated 1,866 Rohingya refugees living in the camps so far.

At the IRC’s Zaatari refugee camp in Northern Jordan, our health workers have vaccinated 14,703 residents and continue to provide boosters for all, including children and pregnant women. We also supported Jordan’s Ministry of Health by transforming a chest disease hospital in the town of Mafraq into an auxiliary vaccination center for all refugees in the Governorate.

Throughout the pandemic, our health teams have been working across nine provinces in Afghanistan. While we are not yet involved in the vaccine rollout, the IRC has been training healthcare workers on infection prevention and control, distributing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), improving access to clean water points, disseminating COVID-19 information materials, and training an army of community-based healthcare workers. This health work has become all the more crucial as the conflict escalates in the country.

Your support means we can continue to fund vital work to slow the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the secondary impacts of the virus. Ending the pandemic can only be achieved if vaccines are available in all countries—to all populations, including refugees and displaced people fleeing conflict and other crises. We appreciate you standing with us during this unprecedented time.

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