Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has completed a project to control the Covid-19 pandemic in Kosovo, by supporting the worst affected poor families.
The project is aimed at meeting the basic food and hygiene needs of the families living in quarantined areas, widowed women with orphaned children, lonely elderly people without care, and extremely poor families.
The Red Cross of Kosovo undertook the purchase of food and hygiene items through bidding from suppliers. They also conducted socioeconomic studies to select the priority families as beneficiaries, under the relevantly applicable regulations.
In the presence of Agron Humolli, secretary-general of the Red Cross of Kosovo, the host National Society’s volunteers distributed food baskets and hygiene kits to 271 financially affected families in 26 municipalities across the country.
Kosovo has one of the highest poverty rates in eastern Europe. According to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics and the World Bank, 5.2% of the population live in extreme poverty. The overall unemployment rate is very high at 30.5%.
Fortunately, the number of people affected or killed by Covid-19 has so far been insignificant, but the economic damage is more obvious. The number of poor families seeking help from the Red Cross of Kosovo is quite large, with the current situation causing even more to apply for emergency assistance.
This project is a lifeline for those living hardly hand-to-mouth, saving them from total lack of subsistence, towards QRCS’s humanitarian mission of saving lives and preserving dignity.
It is part of QRCS’s initiative to back the fellow National Societies in 22 countries across six continents, aimed at protecting 320,000 persons against the virus, with a total budget of QR 2,236,827.
These countries are: Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Laos, Vanuatu, Ethiopia, Chad, Senegal, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sierra Leone, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Venezuela, El Salvador, Peru, and Panama.
The list of activities conducted by QRCS in support of those countries includes provision of equipment and supplies for health facilities, provision of medicines and medical supplies, protection for medical professionals and volunteers, provision of food and shelter for families worst affected by loss of income, and provision of protective supplies (masks, gloves, sanitisers, etc.).