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What you need to know about COVID-19 in crisis zones
The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, is now confirmed in many countries in crisis including Afghanistan, Iraq, Burkina Faso, Venezuela, and, just this week, Syria.
Wealthy countries are struggling to contain the pandemic. Imagine the impact it could have in countries with weak health systems less prepared to combat the disease.
Imagine the impact in a country at war—or in a refugee camp.
The IRC is ramping up its response to slow the virus’s spread among those likely to be hardest hit. Here are four key facts about COVID-19, from IRC experts:
For many, social distancing is not an option
Displaced and vulnerable families are often confined to overcrowded refugee camps or urban areas where a disease can spread rapidly. The advice given to protect ourselves from the virus—wash your hands with soap and clean water, visit a health clinic if symptomatic, and use social distancing—is not always possible for these families to follow.
War devastates health care
COVID-19 in Syria, where there were 85 attacks on health facilities last year in Idlib alone, could lead to one of the most severe outbreaks in the world.
“Intensive care, access to ventilators, oxygen ... these are things that unfortunately don’t really exist in a lot of the contexts in which we work,” said Dr. Stacey Mearns, the IRC’s senior technical advisor for emergency health. “How will those contexts cope with many more cases?”
We can save lives
Bob Kitchen, the head of the IRC’s response to COVID-19, said that we can promote safety by increasing the number of hand-washing stations, and the supply of fresh water, infection control points, and public health communications.
He worries about the “perfect storm” of fragility and instability in Iraq, the poverty of Burkina Faso, and the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants stuck on the Greek islands. But he praises the IRC’s in-country staff “keeping our lifesaving programs afloat.”
“We have the gift of time.” But we need to use it.
In a recent appearance on PBS’s NewsHour, IRC CEO and president David Miliband noted that many countries at war have, thankfully, not yet been hit with the full force of COVID-19. But he stressed that the international community urgently needs to take advantage of this time to help countries with weaker health systems.
“COVID-19 proves that we are an interconnected world,” he said. “This disease needs to be beaten everywhere if we’re all to be safe.”
The IRC needs significant funds for emergency response and to maintain our life-saving programs intact during the pandemic. To that end, we have launched a $30 million appeal to help us protect vulnerable populations and displaced people.You can donate to support our work here.
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