Medair's work around the world focuses on serving the least served and targeting the most vulnerable with projects primarily in health, nutrition and shelter. In humanitarian aid settings an outbreak of measles can contribute to very high rates of death amongst children under 5, particularly if they are aleady malnourished. An outbreak of cholera can spread rapidly through a refugee camp as densely populated as the one in Coxs Bazar. COVID19 now presents itself as a similar emergency in a population that is already vulnerable.
In the graph to the left you can see the total number of deaths from COVID19 in BGD as a whole from the 23rd of June through the 7th of July. The cases in the camps may not be rising as dramatically. It is still a bit difficult to say exactly what is happening in the camps.
Vaccination campaigns are something that Medair has done for years, and does very well. The first step is awareness raising around the vaccination. As soon as vaccines arrive, staff and volunteers are on the front lines giving vaccinations to those who are eligible.
Another role of Medair, as any international NGO in the humanitarian aid setting, is to advocate along with other organizations, for distribution of vaccines to the populations we serve. This distribution is totally dependent on a government receiving vaccines. However, as those supplies come in to the country, we continue to push for allocations for the vulnerable population groups.
Please take time to visit Medair's web page on vaccination campaigns featuring Lebanon.
https://www.medair.org/covid-19-vaccination-campaign/
75 percent of the world’s COVID-19 vaccinations have gone to just 10 countries.
You may have read in the news that the power grid in Lebanon is pretty much nonfunctional and people are lucky to receive 2 hours of electricity per day.
On July 6 the health sector, which brings together all health actors in the Rohingya Response, was informed that vaccines should be arriving soon and we will be vaccinating all adults >55 years of age in the refugee camp. Our community health volunteers will start their awareness raising when they do their monthly household visits this week. Our vaccination teams will receive a refresher training (the initial plan was to vaccinate in March and then no vaccines arrived).
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| Volunteers conducting household visits |
Vaccination campaign to start most likely after EID, an important holiday in this context. By that time the strict lockdown may have lifted as well.
As of July 1, I, Christine, have fully transitioned to the role of Health & Nutrition Advisor for Medair in Bangladesh. In this role I will be overseeing the technical quality of the Health and Nutrition programmes Medair is running. On the forefront right now is this roll out of vaccines. In the last health sector meeting I raised the point that originally the government's vaccination plan included vaccinating our community health volunteers as well as health staff. Volunteers have not been vaccinated yet so hopefully they will be included as well.
Praise:
- For donations through COVAX (the worldwide sharing mechanism for vaccines) - thankful the USA donated 2.5 million doses which arrived last week in BGD
- That the vaccination campaign should be starting soon for refugees >55 years
- That 5 health staff who contracted COVID19 are all recovered and will return to work soon
- Thanks for good dental care in Albania - Phil had a abscess taken care of that the dentist (who teaches at the University here) thinks may have been a problem for him for the last 10 years! Incrediby grateful! Hopefully this will help with his recurring sinus infections!
Prayer:
- For health and safety of people living in Bangladesh - particularly our staff and volunteers and the Rohingya refugees, during this current COVID19 surge. The health sector is also closely watching an increase in confirmed cases of cholera in the camps.
- For our ongoing visa application - we've received word that our application to get new visas has been accepted by the BGD Embassy in Rome. We need to travel to Rome to submit our passports. Pray that we will get visas of the type and duration needed to return to BGD.
- For me, Christine, in my new role as Health and Nutrition Advisor. I've already had a couple of difficult situations to handle since I started in this position.
