Enhanced Solidarity Critical as COVID-19 Spreads in World’s Most Vulnerable Communities | International Organization for Migration
▻https://www.iom.int/news/enhanced-solidarity-critical-covid-19-spreads-worlds-most-vulnerable-communitie
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Geneva – Eight months from the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling on the international community to accelerate support for efforts to mitigate and combat the illness’s impact on migrants, displaced persons and returnees worldwide.
The Organization’s newly revised Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) requires USD 618 million to cover the health, humanitarian and socio-economic needs of millions of people in 140 countries. “The impact of the COVID-19 emergency on global health and mobility is unprecedented in size and scope,” said IOM’s Director General, António Vitorino. “As the disease continues to spread to some of the world’s most vulnerable populations, IOM requires increased support to guarantee their access to life-saving health and other services, to ensure they are not left further behind in the global response to the pandemic,” he added.
In the last eight months since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the International Organization for Migration has:
–Reached more than 3.5 million people through awareness-raising campaigns on health and hygiene practices; protection concerns; stigmatization and mental health;
–Assisted more than 225,000 people with mental health and psychosocial support in over 35 countries;
–Delivered livelihood support to over 430,000 vulnerable persons in more than 40 countries;
–Conducted more than six million COVID-19 health screenings for travellers in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone;
–Procured and delivered personal protective equipment, clinical care and diagnostics equipment and relief Items to 10 countries;
– Conducted baseline assessments at over 3,000 points of entry (airports, water ports and land border crossings) to support the enhancement of disease surveillance and effective preparedness and response efforts;
–Supported COVID-19 testing capacity in over 20 countries, and deployed over 120 health staff to strengthen national capacities, in particular in Africa and Asia;
–Conducted webinars for more than 1,200 staff in 134 countries on how to adapt operations in camp settings to mitigate the spread of the disease; and
–Played a technical leadership role in 58 COVID-19 specific coordination gatherings and in 34 regional and national task forces and other coordination mechanisms on points of entry.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, over 27 million confirmed cases and over 900,000 deaths have been reported in more than 200 countries (10 September). The steady increase in reported COVID-19 cases continues to put pressure on health, social and economic systems. Global mobility has come to a near standstill with travel restrictions, including border closures and air travel suspensions. As of 1 September, a total of 219countries, territories, or areas had issued more than 86,700travel restrictions to contain and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
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