Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) said it recently made remarkable progress on its project to support Covid-19 control efforts in 22 countries.
Implemented at a total cost of $233,670, many activities were carried out to reduce the spread of the pandemic in Ethiopia, El Salvador, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Vanuatu and Mauritania.


In Sierra Leone



In Ethiopia


In Ethiopia, multi-sector aid was delivered in the Gambella and Oromia regions. The activities included training community volunteers to carry out awareness campaigns to vulnerable communities; providing personal protective equipment (PPE) for volunteers and community to reduce the virus dissemination; launching community awareness campaigns about Covid-19 causes, symptoms and how to prevent it; and training health professionals at isolation centres and providing them with hygiene and nonmedical kits.
Moreover, four hospitals and the clinic of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society’s West Hararghe branch received PPE and infection prevention and control (IPC) materials. The number of beneficiaries is around 65,210, and the initiative cost $113,670.
In El Salvador, 396 PPE kits were distributed to doctors and prehospital care personnel at the Emergency Clinic, Blood Centre and Volunteers Directorate. Hygiene kits and food parcels were distributed to 425 affected persons and 100 families (400 people), respectively.
In Senegal, QRCS worked with the Senegalese Red Cross Society to bridge the gap in the Ministry of Health and community efforts to combat Covid-19 through advocacy, sensitisation and monitoring for the populations of Dakar, Thiès, Diourbel, Kaolack, Ziguinchor and Tambacounda.
The $20,000 project involved providing protective materials (such as masks and sanitisers) and logistics, conducting community awareness programmes through the radio and home visits, monitoring the pandemic situation, and detecting infected/contact cases through thermal tests.
These activities reached out to 182,450 direct beneficiaries, in addition to 2mn indirect beneficiaries.
In the Bombali and Koinadugu districts of Sierra Leone, the volunteers of Sierra Leone Red Cross Society distributed information, education and communication materials and IPC materials (hand sanitisers, liquid soap and household hand washing buckets).
Volunteer-led and media awareness-raising programmes were conducted at the household and community levels. The cost of these activities was $20,000, with a total of 11,418 beneficiaries.
Southward to Vanuatu, preventive and informative sessions were held by Vanuatu Red Cross Society for 699 school students, teachers and other society members.
Lastly, in Mauritania, 800 food parcels and hygiene kits were distributed to 800 vulnerable and outbreak-affected families, or 4,800 people, in the departments of Rosso, Akjoujt and Nouakchott. Each parcel would last for one month and contained 48.5kg of rice, sugar, vegetable oil, soap and hand sanitisers.
These projects are part of QRCS’s initiative to back the fellow national societies in 22 countries across six continents, aimed at protecting 320,000 people against the virus, with a total budget of QR2,236,827. These countries are Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Laos, Vanuatu, Ethiopia, Chad, Senegal, Mauritania, Lebanon, Mali, Sierra Leone, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Venezuela, El Salvador, Peru and Panama.