Limiting dissemination of COVID-19 in Gaza Strip

Still after more than one year of its trasnmission, COVID19 is still on top of all emergencies,andit is putting more burden on the Palestinian community in the Gaza Strip in general, and on the health sector particularly. The COVID19 had its bad consequences in light of the declining in the availability of medication and disposables within the already fragile health system.

Adding to this, positivity in the oPt is still high at 17.63%, due to the high positivity rate in Gaza despite the significant decrease in the West Bank , and the Positivity in the oPt is increasing (6.93 in West Bank and 11.3 in Gaza Strip) Rt is currently at 1.03 according to WHO report issued on Dec. 2021.

Same report stated that New COVID-19 infections are registered leading to an increase in the number of cases across oPt. Gaza Strip leads by ratio of 42.1% of all active cases, while Ramallah takes the lead in number of cases in the West Bank (15.2%) 

This intervention came to confront COVID19 by protecting the medical team, workers and patients in Al Awda Hospital and contribute to decreasing the transmission of COVID19 by providing them with PPE's and will conduct COVID19 rapid test according to the MoH protocols followed recently.

The provision of essential services required imposing safety measures and precaution procedures, and the beneficiaries of the intervention during this reporting period from Oct. 2021 until Jan. 2022, were 23,817 classified as follows:

 -(1812) beneficiaries from the Emergency department.

- (1522) beneficiaries from the maternity department.

- (19346) beneficiaries from the outpatient clinic services.

- (1137) beneficiaries from the surgical department.

 Without applying the safety measures, we would not be able to provide the needed services for beneficiaries and protecting them from the being infected from COVID19.

Links:

• UHWC Website

Gaza Strip is still suffering the consequences of the last aggressive Israeli aggression that took place between 10 May 2021 which lasted for 11 continues days. This came on top of all emergencies Gaza strip went through starting from the more than 15 years of imposed blockade, resulting in deterioration of the socio-economic situation, and the very high rates of unemployment poverty, and above all, the transmission of COVID19 within a community that already suffer fragile health system.

The beneficiaries of this intervention from Al Awda Hospital during the reporting period were 32336, who benefited from services provided at Al Awda Hospital.

This intervention came on a time of an urgent need to intervene to confront the spread of COVID-19 among the Palestinian community in Gaza strip especially speaking after the Israeli attack and its consequences on the local community, where it still there are more than 80,000 Internal Displaced People (IDP) who lost partially or totally their homes. So, Al Awda Hospital despite of the emergency state triggered, continue providing emergency services and maternity services in addition to some outpatient services consultations. The provision of essential services required imposing safety measures and precaution procedures, and the beneficiaries of the intervention during this reporting period were are follows:

- (2686) beneficiaries from the Emergency department.

- (1734) beneficiaries from the maternity department.

- (25763) beneficiaries from the outpatient clinic services.

- (2153) beneficiaries from the surgical department.

Without applying the safety measures, we would not be able to provide the needed services for beneficiaries and protecting them from the being infected from COVID19. First Story: H. M. is a midwife working at the maternity ward at Al Awda Hospital.One of the days coming into the hospital, and at the triage point while doing the rapid test for COVID19, she tested positive and later she was asked to do the PCR. Immediately Al Awda Hospital admin coordinated with MoH to have the PCR for her.

Later after 2 days, she was tested positive for PCR, and she was home quarantine for 10 days until she improved and recovered. Without the active and strict work of the triage point at the entrance of the hospital, she wouldn’t have been deducted and covered of being infected.

H. M. stated, “Without detecting me at the triage point, I wouldn’t know that I’m infected and I might put my patients, family and relatives at risk, … Million thanks to this intervention, through which PPEs have been provided to us during our work .. to maintain a free environment of COVID19” H.M. was one of the beneficiaries from the project " Limiting dissemination of COVID-19 in Gaza Strip " that was funded by GlobalGiving, who benefited from the PPE that have been brought and distributed to protect our teams from being infected.

Links:

• Facebook Account
• Youtube Account
• UHWC Website