The Health Cluster protects the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective 1.1 - Prepare and be ready (2)

Relief International first began operating in Bangladesh in 2004 and has scaled up their efforts in the wake of the Rohingya crisis. In Cox’s Bazar, Relief International provides high-quality healthcare to the Kutupalong refugee camp, serving the Rohingya and members of the neighboring Bangladeshi host communities. To support refugee and host communities for COVID-19 Pandemic, Relief International was able to lead the way to open a 144 Bed Severe and Acute Respiratory Illness Isolation and Treatment Center (SARI -ITC). The SARI-ITC has treated over 200 patients to date since opening and is continuing to provide lifesaving assistance to refugee and host communities in Cox’s Bazaar District. To support the centre, Relief International undertook a large recruitment effort of local Bangladeshis, adding 212 new staff – including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, cleaners and security guards – all of whom have undergone training on infection prevention and control and proper use of personal protective equipment. 

Objective 1.1 - Prepare and be ready (1)

International Medical Corps trains local healthcare professionals, community-based health workers and community leaders in effective preventative and curative primary healthcare practices. They have worked in Burundi since 1995, implementing emergency and development programmes. To address the COVID-19 outbreak, International Medical Corps staff are building local capacity by training hospital staff in proper use and disposal of personal protective equipment and how to safely assist COVID-19 patients. 

Objective 1.1 - Prepare and be ready (3)

Serving Together Social Development (STS) International Solidarity, an INGO and Somalia Health Cluster partner, has worked in Somalia since 1999. At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, STS International Solidarity reopened a previously non-operational governmental health centre in Marka Howlwadaag where they now provide an integrated package of health, nutrition and WASH services. They also began conducting regular COVID-19 awareness-raising sessions for the community served by this health centre to share key preventative messages and increase community-driven referrals. 

Objective 1.1 - Prepare and be ready (4)

The Iraq Health Cluster is responding to the COVID-19 emergency by engaging with new partners for a whole-of-society approach. Mercy Hands, national NGO in Iraq and member of the gender-based violence (GBV) sub-cluster since 2017, stepped in to support the national response by training GBV survivors, widows and other vulnerable women to make face masks in a cash-for-work programme in the Ninewa governorate. The 48 000 face masks produced were distributed to internally displaced people living in camp settings in coordination with local health authorities to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Mercy Hands has also coordinated with the Iraq Health Cluster to adapt WHO guidelines for safe workplace practices to the local context, establishing minimum standards to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and shared the tool with all Iraq Health Cluster partners. 

Objective 1.1 - Prepare and be ready (5)

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) mission in South Sudan is an active participant of the COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Working Group and is carrying out COVID-19 awareness-raising and hygiene promotion activities for communities across the country. In particular, IOM continues provides information at water points and through house-to-house campaigns, reaching nearly 575 000 individuals between 24 August to 6 September 2020 with messages on COVID-19 signs, symptoms and prevention measures. As an active participant of the Needs Analysis Working Group, IOM has also provided critical information to key decision makers in the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG) on the needs expressed by vulnerable groups, such as people living with disabilities, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Objective 1.3 – Prevent, suppress and interrupt transmission (1)

International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a key contributor to the COVID-19 response in Nigeria in the conflict affected north-east as well as at points of entry (PoEs), in partnership with the Nigerian Government. In particular, IOM is contributing to the implementation of key Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures across Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, mobilizing communities for proper risk communication, provision of mental health and psychosocial support, and disease surveillance by monitoring people’s movements and providing health screenings in 340 PoEs. 

Objective 1.2 - Detect and test all suspect cases

WHO Somalia, as the lead of the Somalia Health Cluster, supports eight PCR laboratories that are contributing to the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. WHO provides technical and financial support to COVID-19 coordination activities at the national, state, regional and district level, working with federal and state MOHs and the Prime Minister’s Office (OPM). National and state-level technical incident management system (IMS) working groups were also set up. Community-level rapid response teams are also deployed to identify suspected cases. These teams are supervised by district rapid response teams and state-level incident management system teams. State-level public health officers are also providing support to labs for testing COVID-19 suspected cases. Samples collected from hard-to-reach areas are transported to WHO labs for testing.  

Objective 1.3 – Prevent, suppress and interrupt transmission (2)

The Ukraine Health Cluster is supporting the national strategy to reduce restrictions on the movement across the contact line. Most entry/exit checkpoints (EECP) remain closed, with two operating official crossing points for civilians. The joint rapid assessment mission that precedes the opening of the EECP in Zolote revealed that the readiness level of the checkpoint remains at the planning stage. 

Objective 1.3 – Prevent, suppress and interrupt transmission (3)

World Vision has been working in Myanmar since 1991, with current operations in 13 out of the 14 states/regions, spanning a range of sectors including education, health, livelihoods and child protection. Building off existing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health programmes, World Vision was able to pivot services to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

Objective 1.4 - Provide safe and effective clinical care

Burhakaba Town Section Committee (BTSC), a local NGO and active partner of the Somalia Health Cluster since 2007, specialized in meeting the health and nutrition needs of communities that have recently survived a natural disaster or conflict.  BTSC distributes essential food and nutritional supplements to vulnerable populations in the Burhakaba district and with the support of UNICEF has trained community health workers to provide home-based care for patients with mild to moderate symptoms. Health facilities run by BTSC are equipped to provide COVID-19 treatment and care alongside other essential health care services

Objective 1.6 - Ensure essential health services and systems (1)

Iraq Health Access Organization (IHAO), a national NGO and partner of the Iraq Health Cluster since 2017, specializes in health services to support the inclusion of rural communities to meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations and is working to ensure continuity of essential health services in the COVID-19 context. They work to provide health services to ethnic minority groups such as the Yazidi and Shabak people and religious minority groups that may face additional barriers to accessing other health facilities. IHAO recently expanded access to Sexual and Reproductive Health services to the Yazidi community concentrated in the Baaj district under UNFPA support and coordinated with local authorities to establish a hotline to arrange for emergency transportation services to the Sinjar Hospital, kept open 24/7 by IHAO for labor and delivery. Finally, IHAO provides primary care and reproductive health services in the Sinjar Healthcare Center as part of the Safe Return project, funded by USAID and implemented in coordination with Heartland Alliance International. 

 

Objective 1.6 - Ensure essential health services and systems (2)

In the Centre-Nord Region of Burkina Faso, the sub-national Health Cluster is maintaining essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic in hard-to-reach areas by working with partners and funding from the WHO.  Médecins du Monde, Spain is one of the 39 health cluster partners maintaining essential health services in remote villages using mobile clinics to provide a range of services, including primary health care, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, services for survivors of gender-based violence, management of severe acute malnutrition and referral of patients in need of specialized health services. Médecins du Monde Spain, alongside other partners recognized the need to address gender-based violence (GBV) through their work in mobile clinics due to conflict and security concerns.

In January 2020, a variety of Health Cluster partners (UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, Plan International, ICAHD International, INTERSOS, Children Believe, OCADES - Caritas, ASMADE, Tin-tua, the local Ministry of Health and other local governmental representatives) responded by activating the GBV sub-cluster to enhance coordination to meet the needs of internally displaced people and host communities in the central Sahel region. 

Objective 1.6 - Ensure essential health services and systems (3)

The flooding in Twic East Couny, Jonglei State of South Sudan has left many vulnerable groups without access to primary health care, including COVID-19 testing and treatment. The Paker Primary Health Care Center, a Ministry of Health facility supported by the World Bank, is managed by the John Day Foundation. Sudan Medical Care (SMC) staff also support the centre in times of flooding, their immunization team operate using a mobile clinic to access hard-to-reach areas.

SMC was founded in 1993 and has been a member of the South Sudan Health Cluster since 2012. SMC specializes in health services, but also provides water hygiene and sanitation (WASH) and nutrition services in both humanitarian and development programmes, targeted people affected by conflict and displacement, natural disasters and major disease outbreaks. 

 

Objective 1.6 - Ensure essential health services and systems (4)

IOM is a key player in the provision of health services to IDPs, host communities and migrants – including stranded migrants – in Yemen. IOM has eight mobile health teams and is providing support to 22 health facilities across the country, ensuring that primary and secondary health care, cholera treatment, and mental health and psychosocial support continue to be accessible to crisis-affected populations. IOM is promoting IPC (e.g. through clean water provision, hygiene kit distributions), RCCE, and disease surveillance (through community-based efforts and the electronic disease early warning system, in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health and Population).